Kirchick explains it all:

It is clear, and should be especially clear to those working at 202 York, what motivated these protests. A die-hard group of union activists, no doubt encouraged and actively supported by paid union officers, is doing everything it can to tarnish the reputation of President Levin for their own cheap political purposes. The intent of these protests could not be any clearer, and there is nothing to be “confused” about.

See here I thought I got a call on ten minutes notice that Levin had a press conference about his appointment to the Weapons of Mass Destruction Comission in Woodbridge, and a bunch of us who were less than enthused about the prospect of our President, given his ties to Bush and lack of relevant experience, getting and accepting the nod figured we’d get together outside Woodbridge and make it clear that not everyone in the Yale community was psyched about our university’s latest appearance on the national news.

But apparently, it’s clear that that’s not the case. Rather, it was all part of HERE President John Wilhelm’s duplicitous thirty-year machinations to seize the crown of the AFL-CIO by running his alma mater into the ground (the same machinations which required that thousands of Yale workers strike this fall after years of negotiation – the poor souls only think that their pensions are set to double as a result), the latest step of which demanded that twenty-some lemmings be dispatched to appear to have legitimate concerns about Levin’s appointment – all the better to serve the purposes of those dastardly paid union organizers…

To review:

Arguing that our University’s President plays an unfortunate role in a network of political and economic elites in this country = Marxist conspiracy-theorizing.

Intimating that any student on this campus who opposes any University policy is a union thug (how could they really disapprove – it’s Yale) = Vision.

Hey, we can’t all be as grassroots as Jamie’s approved activist group…

Looks like it’s Kerry, then Edwards, then Clark, then Dean, then Sharpton, then Kucinich in Virginia and Tennessee. Hopefully, this will question the myth that southerners only grant support to their own.

CNN calls Tennessee for Kerry…

Kerry takes Virginia with a rough majority of the vote, with Edwards second, followed by Clark and then Dean.

From the Times:

Some of General Clark’s supporters said he was likely — but not certain — to end his bid for the presidency should he lose Virginia and Tennessee, two states where he has invested a huge amount of time, prestige and money. So far, General Clark has won only one state, Oklahoma, and by a very slim margin.

Several national Democratic leaders said that should he lose again, the general would probably come under pressure from the quarter of the party that encouraged his candidacy — the Bill Clinton camp — to clear the field for Mr. Kerry.
By contrast, Mr. Edwards and his aides rejected admonitions from some Democrats that he step aside if he loses. Instead, he said he would push on through Wisconsin on Feb. 17 and on to March 2, when Democrats in 10 states, from New York to California, will choose 1,408 delegates.

Not-particularly-surprising bedfellows:

Under the deal, terms of which were not disclosed, Fox News will supply live breaking-news segments and alerts for retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s in-store network, which has multiple monitors in some 2,450 stores nationwide and generates more than 150 million impressions monthly, according to Nielsen Media Research.

MY YDN piece ( a response in part to this one) today on Director of Faith-Based Initiatives Jim Towey’s visit to Yale and his boss’ agenda in Congress here:

On the same day Towey was at Yale touting the constitutionality and compassion of the administration’s agenda, the administration’s allies in the right-wing lobby Focus on the Family sent out an activist alert warning that if proposed amendments to H.R. 3030 passed, “Christian charities interested in accepting federal funds would be required to ignore religious conviction in hiring — even if potential employees practiced Islam, Judaism or no religion at all.” Behind Bush’s pluralistic rhetoric is a move to deny equal protection to people of all religious, racial and sexual identities seeking government-subsidized jobs by suspending for faith-based charities the expectations to which other organizations are held.

In this staff editorial, the Editorial Board of the YDN returns to an old pasttime: chastising students who vocally protest University policy for failing to understand the complexity of the world around them and failing to show the deference deserved by their superiors. Particularly absurd is this line:

there seems to be a general misunderstanding of Levin’s politics on campus. If all you know about Levin is that he is an economist and that he — appropriately, given his position as president of Yale — stood up for the University’s interests in last year’s strikes, it might be easy to assume he’s a steadfast conservative. But Levin is more liberal than he is conservative, and we’re not sure why campus liberals would oppose the selection of a fellow liberal to a committee to investigate gaps in U.S. military intelligence.

Yeah, it was nice to read this summer that Levin didn’t like Reagan’s tax cuts either. More important, however is his exercise of power as President of the second wealthiest University in the world – one which is too often unfortunately illiberal, be the issue living wages for employees, meaningful investment in the surrounding city, investment transparency, environmental stewardship, democratic governance, protection of free expression, crimminal justice, or support for the military-industrial complex. It’s that record that’s made Levin his friends in high places, and it’s that record against which he should be judged.

Few of those protesting on Friday, incidentally, would accept the title “liberal”…

This YDN piece on access to childcare for teaching assistants and clerical and technical workers shares good news about the University’s announced plans to respond to the overwhelming demand for progressive change in that arena. It’s undercut, however, by a bizarre title that obscures that an old plan folks were dissatisfied with is being changed and makes it look like the story is just that folks are now happy with daycare opportunities. Most of the quotes, incidentally, suggest not that workers are “laud[ing]” the new plan but that they’re glad to see movement from Yale and hope its proposal will represent real change. That’s where I fall as well.

A critical look at Bush’s polling numbers…from a fellow at the Claremont Institute.

Zogby is showing Kerry with a near majority going into both the Tennessee and Virginia primaries tomorrow, followed in both states by Edwards, Clark, then Dean. Clark could easily pull ahead of Edwards for second in TN, and Dean could easily steal third from Clark, but the other gaps would be tougher to bridge.