Rep. Stephanie Tubb Jones kicks ass.

I suppose you take cold comfort where you can find it, but have the loathed Chris Matthews randomly take down a TX state Senator... really hard to balance that with a major base-loss in Wisconsin and, what, a 50 pt loss in Hawaii, even with Inouye's support?

Yes, Bucky McGreenhorn or whatever his name should have been prepared, and this is something the Obama campaign should learn from. But if you sum up the night:

Obama won Hillary's best chance for an upset in Wisconsin.
Polls showed her closer than the final outcome.
She lost ground in all the demos that usually go for her.
She (and McCain) will have a harder time pushing the empty rhetoric idea following Obama's 45-minute stemwinder. And, objectively, it's hard to criticize a speech for being "too long" when you complain the guy doesn't offer specifics. Fact was, it was a rich speech for grown-ups. I would like to see that level of discussion from all the candidates. I'd LOVE to see Hillary speak at that level of detail. I'd love to see any aspect of our political system get that level of detail -- and ditch the same old same old gotcha crap...

...but luckily, for those that don't, Tweety took out some TX state senator. Doing so has its merits, and certainly embarasses Obama, but if that's the ugly you want in the face of a pretty astounding day of electoral upheaval and policy wonkparadise -- go for it...

Embarrassing? Well then by all means please highlight and bring attention to it on the front page of your blog.

This guy is ridiculously embarrassing. My god, he is like every anti-Obama talking point rolled into one person and thrust onto national television.

I hope this Mr. Kirk Watson crawls back into the hole he came from and never again emerges into the light of day.

Agreed, Todd.

Unfortunately there are a lot of bad Democratic Party surrogates. Like any of the ones appearing on Fox News Channel. (The few good ones aren't invited back.) I suppose the only good news is that Watson appeared on MSNBC, the third rated cable news channel. "Third rated" and "cable news" means almost no one was watching. You can bet he won't make the same mistake twice.

Hindsight is 20-20, but if I didn't know the answer I might have tried something like this (being sure to talk over anybody interrupting me):

"Great question. Senator Obama's Web site has a lot of details on that. Have you looked there? But you raise a good point, which is that more Americans should know about what Senator Obama has accomplished. I'm sure that will happen as the campaign unfolds, especially after the nomination process. Quite honestly most voters have not been focused too much on Senator Obama's and Senator Clinton's legislative accomplishments. With some major exceptions that Senator Obama has pointed out, for example Iraq and Iran, both candidates have good legislative records. However, I think Barack has demonstrated some better skills at working across party lines to get things accomplished. And you may remember that he went back to Washington recently, even though he's campaigning hard, to vote against retroactive immunity for big telecommunications companies. We need to protect Americans' privacy and protect the rule of law, and that's what Senator Obama believes. Some things are more important than the campaign."

If the questioner persists....

"(Chuckle.) I'll tell you what. I almost forgot Valentine's Day last week, and you know how dangerous that can be. If you invite me back, I promise I'll have a better list of Senator Obama's legislative accomplishments. Would you like the U.S. Senate, the Illinois State Legislature, or both?"

I hope for Kirk Watson's sake that he's in a REALLY safe district.  He was a total embarrassment last night, but for Barack Obama himself, the damage was minimal.  Much better to win Wisconsin and have a blathering idiot for a surrogate than lose the state but have Watson shine like the sun for Matthews.  

He just endorsed Obama a week ago. He isn't a surrogate at all.  He should have never gone on national television to talk about Obama.

Again, it's clear that Obama has a greater than 50% chance of winning the nomination (I'm being conservative).  So these kind of negative attacks on him--that are petty-- and will not be remembered by November, aren't helpful for the party.

I am a Hillary supporter and this was one of my BIG concerns about Obama in the general election. I will support him if he wins the nomination but I hope he focuses on something other than hope anf bringing people together.

I live in TX and I was listening to my favorite  radio station today, I noticed that OBAMA's commercial did not mention his positions on ANY issues and was about bringing people together or something... that gets tired after a while, especially if you are a struggling working class voter. I make less than $35,000 per year and I want him to say SOMETHING about issues like healthcare and wages!

I hope the left wing 527s will attack McCain enough to hurt him in the general election but only Obama can make his case for why he is a strong leader.... I think it is possible to talk about hope and leadership and he better start ASAP!!

Yeah, it was pretty awful to watch, as much for this fool's lack of preparedness and the Obama campaign's sloppiness in allowing him to speak on its behalf, as for Tweety's barely disguised contempt for Democrats (as opposed to he-man white guy Reagan Democrats like him) of all stripes erupt in its full inglory. The man is a seriously nasty and disturbed creep who will doubtless do whatever he can to get his good Aqua Velva man-crush buddy McCain elected in the fall, all the while trying to hide behind a fake "I like Obama" facade. He has concern troll written all over him.

But yeah, the Obama campaign needs to better vett and prepare its surrogates. Make them attend a seminar or something and record a tape to prove that they're ready for prime time. The stakes are too high than to give the other side anything to bite into. Let Tweety pick on Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman and the other side's fools.

Can you name a single legislative accomplishment by Hillary Clinton?

I can't.

things I've seen in politics this year.  I'm glad it was at 11pm on MSNBC where very few people were watching.  It was embarassing beyond belief. You at least have to being able to cite the ethics reform and his work on nuclear proliferation.

Watson is actually seen as something of a star in Texas Democratic circles.  He's apparently a pretty bright guy, thought of as a promising new legislator and a potential candidate for statewide office.

What this says about the state of the Texas Democratic Party, I'm not sure.  But for what it's worth, my hardcore Republican buddy who lives in Austin just hates him.  

Let's agree to keep him off national television for the time being...

Are you another Obama hater?  Watch out or I will condem you on some other blog!!!

It was an embarrassing.  I cringed during the entire segment.  If you're going to be on national tv as someone's surrogate, you have to do some real homework to make sure you don't get ambushed like that.  The Obama campaign made a serious mistake putting him on the air as their representative.  But it's not the end of the world.  Most national candidates, during the course of a very long campaign, are inevitably going to have one or two "Embarrassing Surrogate Moments".  

This is the problem with the Obama campaign. They stand for nothing. The reason a surrogate can't express the message is because the campaign has failed to express that message. It's also why McCain is winning the media narrative.

It was terrible for this guy to be on TV. He couldn't mention ethics reform? Obama-Lugar on nuclear non-proliferation? Obama-Coburn on budget transparency?

The query to "Name one accomplishment" assumes that this is the true measure of a presidential candidate. By that assumption we should all rush to enlist Ted Kennedy as our nominee.

Regardless, Obama and supporters should have a simple, ready answer:

He has shown his leadership in a number of areas critical to the American people. Ethics reform, nuclear proliferation, budget transparency, etc.

Alternatively, one might argue:

He is not running for president on the basis of laws passed. It's not about what he has done as senator, it's what he will do as president.

As an Obama supporter - this guy was an embarrassment.  But the good thing is that I hope the campaign learned something from it. I doubt that it will happen again. And I doubt that the State Senator will be going on National T.V. again any time soon.  

nolalily is wrong: Obama has no legislative accomplishments.

I don't care how many Republican asses he kissed to get cosponsors for his bills, if the bills haven't been passed and signed into law, they aren't accomplishments because nobody is helped by bills that don't become laws.

But Obamaphiles are too starry eyed to notice that important detail.  

I don't think that anyone noted that Tweety didn't see fit to ask Tubby the same question regarding Hillary. To be sure, this man was an embarrassment but to hammer him and not Stephanie was anything BUT balanced journalism. If accomplishments were the only measure of potential presidential success, Biden and Dodd should have been the runaway winners in the primaries.  P.S. They were NOT!

Hey, even Bruce Springsteen has fans that are total assholes.

This guy was an embarrassment and we will not see him again.

do all accomplishments have to be political. Like when we vote for an Iraqi vet who's never held office for office? what's going on with this double standard?

is taking a job making little to help inner city poor not an accomplishment?

is being the head of the harvard review not an accomplishment?

is death penalty interogation reform in Illinois not an accomplishment?

is passing ethics/lobbying reform (even if it wasn't perfect) not an accomplishment? albeit his state proposal was much better.

is passing transparency laws not an accomplishment?

is passing an earned income tax credit for low income families not an accomplishment?

I've seen the Hillary supporters throw quite a lot of energy in this game of experience vs. no experience but one question still boggles my mind. Why, with so much experience did she get the war vote so wrong? Why with so much experience can she not offer up a statement saying she was wrong?

i'm not worried about an "inexperienced" Obama. He'll do great things as president.

and that surrogate was quite the disaster! jeez.

What legislative accomplishments does he have? Ok a few but isn't he running for an executive position? The reason usually given for senators not being able to win the presidency is because they have a long record of votes for the opposition to take out of context and exploit. Well, not so much with Obama. I'll repeat what I said last night - the problem with Dems is they always have great plans but they are never able to sell them. Barack doesn't have a problem on that front and I expect that is the reason he is going to do very well.

will be What are his legislative accomplishments compared to McCain?

The independents will listen to that.

...we shouldn't expect people who are just State Senators to be ready for prime time on a national stage.  It's not like we're expecting a State Senator to become President or anything.

Oh, wait...

I don't think that anyone noted that Tweety didn't see fit to ask Tubby the same question regarding Hillary. To be sure, this man was an embarrassment but to hammer him and not Stephanie was anything BUT balanced journalism

Well hell, for the past year Hillary and her supporters have had to put up with incredible media bias against her.  Now Obama is going to be the target.  In fact it has already begun.  Gee, I wonder what happened to that "tingle" that was running up Tweety's leg last week.  I think Tweety isn't too happy that the speech that excited him so much was actually stolen from the much less sexy Deval Patrick.

Obama may be ahead.  But he's a disaster waiting to happen.

Agree that the interview was a total embarrassment. But it's an embarrassment for Watson, not Obama. Also, it's a mistake to over-emphasize past accomplishments as a campaign rationale. After all, what did George W. Bush accomplish before he was elected President? His record paled against Kerry's, yet Kerry's record became a dart board for popular discourse while Bush got away with vague promises of "compassionate conservatism." What this moment in television potentially illustrates is that the media will make Obama's followers, rather than Obama, the focal point of their narrative about the candidate.

I agree, this was embarrassing.  The State Senator was totally unprepared.

However, if you want to see substance, go to his website.

If you listened to his speech last night, you heard many specific proposals.

The bottom line is both Hillary and Barack are people with substantive ideas.  I don't agree with all but they are substantive nonetheless.

No, what's really embarrassing is that Stephanie Tubbs Jones is in a district that will probably vote 90% to 10% for Obama, and yet she shows such incredible disrespect and disdain for her constituents.  

You know, Stephanie, I know you think you have your seat for life, but you CAN be primary challenged.  Just ask your neighbor Dennis Kucinich!

This is more than a matter of a poorly-prepared surrogate.  The tragedy for America is that TX State Senator Kirk Watson is representative of Obama's supporters nationally. They are, like Watson, following emotion, not reason.  And it is emotion whipped up deliberately by a campaign and a candidate that are as phony as any politician who has ever demagogued his way into office through misinformation, while taking advantage of race-baiting and woman-hating.  This is easy to see just by reading the blog comments of his supporters.  Their words are often nothing more than hate-filled screeds.  If this is what Obama inspires, I want no part of it, or him.

HRC's supporters, on the other hand, like Rep. Stephanie Tubb Jones, have looked at the records of the two candidates, as opposed to their rhetoric, and are voting with their heads.  They are the thinking people.