Hillary’s Voice

Words fail me (by lambert at Corrente)
Chris Bowers: “Wow, we nominated the black guy.” Beyond parody. Garçon, more latte!

Obama to Declare “Victory” on May 20? (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
We already know that Obama has the outsized ego and self-absorbed obsession with winning equaled only by that of George W. Bush. We know that he fancies himself the second coming of Abraham Lincoln. But must we endure the same imagery?

Remember when we wanted Al Gore to keep on fighting, to challenge the Florida electors?  Remember when we wanted John Kerry to challenge the Ohio vote?  Why are so many of the people who wanted those candidates to fight harder so contemptuous of the candidate who is fighting hard to win this nomination?

NOT OVER ‘TIL LADY IN THE PANTSUIT SAYS IT IS (NBC)
[Sunday, Hillary Clinton]  held a “Mother’s Day Celebration” in this town, the so-called “Home of Mother’s Day.” Clinton told the crowd that she drew inspiration from the example of women who came before her, be they historical figures like Harriet Tubman and Sally Ride or her own mother and grandmother. “Women have been standing up for what we believe in, defying convention and going forward for a long time,” she said. She also acknowledged that women, including herself, have “experienced a moment along the way when your own sense of limitless possibility collided with a harsher reality.” “Women face a lot of barriers, some visible, some invisible,” she said. “And in 2008, it’s really important we recommit ourselves to making sure that our daughters and our sons have an equal chance to lead and serve in the future.”
Yes, we really do.  Daughters AND sons.  It has become obvious that we need to start a new women’s movement.  And beyond that, a true progressive movement.

Poll Analysis: Obama Gains Ground Against McCain (by Darryl Holman, anthropologist and demographer, University of Washington, at Hominid Views)
[Saturday] Sen. Barack Obama had an 8.6% chance of beating Sen. John McCain in a general election held now. [Sunday] there was a new Michigan poll released.  In fact, the Michigan poll hurts Obama a little bit. Now, instead of winning the state with a probability of 72.4% (from an older poll), he now only wins with a probability of 40.0%. There is also an older North Carolina poll that expires that drops Obama’s chances in that state from 5.2% to 1.5%. But, what trumps these two changes is that an old Florida poll expires, increasing Obama’s chances in Florida from a probability of 2.5% to 31.9%. The net result is that Obama’s chances in a general election have doubled, although he still remains well behind McCain… The long term trends in this race [show that] Obama has, at best, held steady since late March.

Hillary Clinton must be the Democratic nominee; Do The Math (by bringiton at Corrente)
Only one thing matters; winning the Presidency in November. Hillary Clinton has proven she is by far the strongest candidate an most likely to achieve that victory…

By a majority of more than 2 to 1 in Electoral College strength, the Democratic voters of the Swing States prefer Hillary Clinton. A preference of 99 to 43 is not even close; it is definitive. The voters who are most in a position to know, who actually live in these states and know not just their own opinions but those of their friends and neighbors, have made a resounding decision; they want Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee…

Kentucky Poll: Wright, Bitterness, Bosnia, Electability (by Truthteller at No Quarter)
Conceding Kentucky to Clinton, Obama has already dismissed Kentucky Democrats as so many “typical white people” whose participation in the Democratic primary is inconsequential. Kentucky Democrats will determine the outcome of the general election, however. And according to a poll conducted on behalf of Herald-Leader/WKYT on May 7-9, 2008, Obama has an electability problem with Kentucky Democrats… 71% of Kentucky Democrats … care about Obama’s derisive statements about rural white voters who “cling” to guns and religion.
See, Obama says Kentucky doesn’t matter.  And, right on cue, McClatchy tells us:

Obama or Clinton? Neither beats McCain in Ky., poll finds (McClatchy)
LEXINGTON, kY. — U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton enters the final week before Kentucky’s May 20 Democratic presidential primary with a commanding 27 percentage point lead over U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, a new poll shows.
But oh, boy, do the OTHER states Democrats won’t win in the fall matter.  Because Obama won them.  Everything that favors Obama matters.  Anything that favors Clinton doesn’t matter.

Obama’s BIG, sweeping, crushing, dazzling win in NC (Bartcop)

Obama can’t win (Bartcop)
He didn’t win California
He didn’t win New York
He didn’t win Texas
He didn’t win Florida
He didn’t win Pennsylvania
He didn’t win Massachusetts
He didn’t win Ohio
He didn’t win Michigan
He didn’t win Catholic voters
He didn’t win Reagan Democrats
He didn’t win women voters
He didn’t win white voters
He didn’t win Jewish voters
He didn’t win the Latino voters
He didn’t win the Asian voters
He didn’t win the working class voters
If you repeat these facts you will be called a racist.
 Jim in Michigan

You SHOULD be angry (Bartcop)
In the 2000 election, our whore media demonized Gore and praised Bush. They painted Gore as a helpless serial liar, and he was unstable if serial liar’s not enough. We didn’t like it when the whore media made our decisions for us.

In the 2004 primaries, remember what our whore media did to Howard Dean? Our whore media demonized Dean, saying he was unstable, and quite possibly wild enough to eat a young child. Remember how they played his scream and laughed at him? We didn’t like it when the whore media made our decisions for us.

In the 2004 general election, remember what our whore media did to John Kerry? They painted Kerry as a demented liar who claimed he went into battle in Vietnam, while praising Bush’s brave service to our country in the Air National Guard. We didn’t like it when the whore media made our decisions for us.

Now it’s 2008, and once again, our whore media is up to their same old tricks. They have demonized our front-runner and elevated and praised Obama.

Why am I the only one who sees what they’re doing? The whore media is owned by super-rich Republican bastards.

They demonized Gore, Dean and Kerry, then praised Obama to get Hillary out of the race - and we let them do that?

We stood and applauded while they fabricated horseshit racism charges against the best friends Black people ever had in the White House.

Soon they’re going to demonize Obama and praise McCain and we’ll be shocked - because we’re Democrats.

Why am I the only one who sees what they’re doing?
There are a few of us, Bart, but not nearly enough.  The so-called progressive world has become totally unhinged.

This Democrat has one thing to say to the Obama campaign: Go to Hell. (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
There is no going back, Obamites. Get over it. You won’t get us back. The rupture you have caused with your name calling, smears, threats, hypocrisy and lies went too far. You smashed up the china shop for fun and now express faux wonder as to why broken glass is everywhere. But let me be perfectly clear. I will not be voting for Obama because of any of this. I will not vote for Obama because he is not qualified to be President. Period. Especially not in 2008. As an added bonus - it turns out he is a liar, a fraud, a man of no core convictions, a fellow traveller with racists, terrorists, and those who would destroy Israel, and a wimp.

Democratic Blind Spots (by Anglachel)
At this point in the primary campaign, there isn’t a lot of doubt about what the primary contests themselves will hold. Hillary has a chance to pull a slight upset in Oregon, as rural voters and a growing number of voters in the greater Portland area are leaning towards her. I’m also curious to see what the Montana primary margins end up looking like. Other than those two details, the rest of the campaign is Obama getting his arrogance handed to him by the voters. I will simply repeat what I’ve been saying for weeks now: Hillary = nominee = victory; Obama = nominee = defeat…

What does interest me greatly is watching the modern day “Best and Brightest” come totally unhinged over Hillary’s candidacy. No, really, this is a fascinating sociological study that is confirming themes and thoughts I’ve been writing about since long before this particular campaign. It has to do with the fault lines in the Democratic coalition as such and the difficulty the two major strands - Stevensonian and Truman/Jacksonian - have trying to keep the coalition together.

Obama Overtakes Clinton in Race for Superdelegate Endorsements
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won endorsements from five superdelegates yesterday, erasing rival Hillary Clinton’s long-held lead in backing from party officials and lawmakers.

Tom Daschle on Iraq (by lambert at Corrente)
Tom Daschle’s name has been floated as Obama’s chief of staff. Here’s Daschle on Iraq in 2002: “Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle announced Thursday morning he would support Bush on Iraq, saying it is important for the country ‘to speak with one voice at this critical moment.’ Daschle, D-South Dakota, said the threat of Iraq’s weapons programs ‘may not be imminent. But it is real. It is growing. And it cannot be ignored.’ However, he urged Bush to move ‘in a way that avoids making a dangerous situation even worse.’”… Great to see that when everybody gets a Unity Pony, all will be forgiven on Iraq! Except, of course, for Hillary, Quintessence of Evil, who had the audacity to take a position equivalent to that of Hans Blix.

Obama Launches 50-State Voter Registration Drive
Sen. Barack Obama may not yet be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, but Saturday morning his campaign launched in more than 100 other locations across the country a national voter registration drive intended to transform the electorate - or at least register more Democrats — in advance of November’s general ‘election.’

Lenin Would Be Proud (by Lynne in Lakeland at Liberal Rapture)
Party membership in our society does not mean we have to ascribe 100% to all positions and all of the party. After all, the members of a party have to debate and fight among themselves as to what the party platform will be. We identify with the party that on balance tends to support more of with what we agree than disagree. This is what I now find lacking in the Democratic Party. The party elites have decided to cram Obama down our throats and tell us their little fringe group is now the whole of the Democratic Party and we are all traitors to the Party if we dare express our opinions to the contrary.This new vision of the Democratic party is not the party of its former giants, FDR, John and Bobby Kennedy (sorry Ted), who fought for the betterment of American society, but one of powerful elites (that’s you Ted, and Pelosi and Reid) who will do anything to perpetuate their grip on power to the expense of the greater good of American society. The New Democratic party shouldn’t even be called Democratic anymore, not with it’s calls to stop the electoral process and anoint Obama; calls that started with his first few hundred delegates and “polls” taken by the elites to advance their own end. No, the New Democratic Party is not the party with the ideals of FDR, JFK and Bobby, but of Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov.
It’s the Obamacrat Party.  Get used to it.Remember when we laughed at how reverentially George Bush was treated?
Willamette Week (Portland, OR)

What’s Democracy Got to Do With It? (by Lynne in Lakeland at Liberal Rapture)
Has anyone else noticed a change in the tone of Obama supporters since he has almost declared himself the winner? (Mission Accomplished Moment Coming May 20th!) They’ve gone from calling Hillary and her supporters “fucking whores” to we need to come together for the good of the party. They’ve beaten us for months with we’re not as smart as them, we’re not as enlightened, we’re white trash, we’re racist, we don’t “get” black churches and they are pulling an Ike Turner “I didn’t mean to hit you baby, you know I love you.” Well, like Tina, we’re not forgiving and we’re not coming back.

Welcome to Cheetopia (by myiq2xu at Corrente)
What I am seeing is the vertical integration of the Democratic Party under one roof. IOW - “The Obama Party.” What I don’t see is any clear ideology or policy agenda. Why should we surrender complete control of the party to one person? The GOP tried that with George W. Bush, and we see how that worked out. Even more disturbing are the most energetic advocates for this power grab - the OFB [Obama Fan Base]. We’ve seen the way they have conducted themselves in this campaign. [D]o we really want them in charge of anything?

McCain camp no longer ignoring Hillary (Politico)
Now they’re defending her! Just to get at Obama, of course. From the campaign’s morning e-mail blast to reporters, citing the comparison of Hillary to Glenn Close’s bunny-boiling cha- Oracter in “Fatal Attraction.” ”’Fatal Attraction’ comparisons are kind of TABOO but that isn’t stopping the Obama campaign. Check out the story here. ABC’s Jake Tapper’s analysis is right on here: ‘I’d posit at the very least that it’s not keeping with Obama’s lofty campaign rhetoric to compare Clinton’s tenacity to psychosis.’ The Obama campaign already had to repudiate one surrogate yesterday. Will they denounce this one as well?”
Oh, yes, of course, chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.  The McCain campaign couldn’t POSSIBLY be decrying the vicious treatment of Hillary by people supposedly on the same side as she, simply because it’s the right thing to do.  Oh, no,  every event in the universe has something to do with Barack Obama, and how it affects HIS tender soul.  And think about this, Obamaphiles.  What this means is that many Clinton supporters may start to see John McCain as the person who defends us and our candidate, and Obama as the person who is contemptuous of us and doesn’t need us because he’s building a “new” coalition.  Proceed at your own risk, Obamacrat Party.

Republicans ARE the party of ideas. (by LatinoVoter at MyDD)
So strange to see the Republicans take on the roll of supposed “progressives” and calling out disgusting misogyny when it rears its ugly head. Who would have thought that the ideas that Republicans have is speaking up when people of conscious should. Even though Barack says he doesn’t read blogs if he should ever come across mydd.com and see this then I hope he accepts my apology. You were right, Republicans are the party of ideas… Can women feel the change and unity in the air?

Emanuel to Kennedy: That’s Not Nice (by Adam Nagourney, New York Times)
Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the No. 3 Democrat in the House … called to assail Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, for remarks he made when asked about the possibility of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois choosing Mrs. Clinton, of New York, as his running-mate. “I have a lot of respect for Ted Kennedy, but I don’t know how the hell he comes off saying that,” said Mr. Emanuel, who has ties to Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama and has not endorsed in the race. “The gratuitous attack on her is uncalled for and wrong. He is a better senator than that comment reveals.”
Emanuel can be a jerk, too, but he’s right about this.  Anyone know why Teddy has such animosity toward Hillary?  Could it be because the little woman won’t just sit down and shut up, and even made a fool of him by winning the Massachusetts primary?

Is Barack Obama Mentally Fatigued? (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
If Barack can’t handle the stress of campaigning, how in the world will he cope with being President? During the past week we have seen a series of troubling gaffes by Barack Obama that strongly suggest he lacks the intellect and toughness to hold up under pressure. How else to explain his claim to have visited “57? states, his repeated confusion in referring to NBC’s Matt Lauer as “Tim,” and waxing nostalgic about his father’s flag draped coffin… It is time to acknowledge that Obama lacks the stamina and mental toughness to endure the pressures he would face if elected President.

Obama magically unstained by grime of Chicago Way (by John Kass, Chicago Tribune)
“I think I have done a good job in rising politically in this environment without being entangled in some of the traditional problems of Chicago politics,” Obama told reporters and editors at a Tribune editorial board meeting several weeks ago… Obama the reformer is backed by Mayor Richard M. Daley and the Daley boys. He is spoken for by Daley’s own spokesman, David Axelrod. He was launched into his U.S. Senate by machine power broker and state Senate President Emil Jones (D-ComEd)… Why is Obama allowed to campaign as a reformer, virtually unchallenged by the media, though he’s a product of Chicago politics and has never condemned the wholesale political corruption in his home town the way he condemns those darn Washington lobbyists.
No magic at all, John.  It’s willful blindness by the Obama-loving media, which will turn on him as soon as he’s anointed.

Some Questions Obama Refuses to Answer (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
The puff piece (some might call it an act of journalistic fellatio) on Barack Obama in the Sunday New York Times is but another reminder that most of the mainstream media have gone AWOL when it comes to getting Barack Obama to tell the truth about his past. Like a flat stone thrown along the surface of a still lake, this piece skips lightly over a host of issues–Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, and Jeremiah Wright–without a probing question or the hint of doubt. What does Barack really believe? What are his core principles? No one knows.

Obama faces an untested set of hurdles (by Doyle Mcmanus and Peter Wallsten , Los Angeles)
[In a] survey released this month by the independent Pew Research Center … voters described Obama as the most liberal of the candidates still in the race, well to the left of what they saw as the midpoint of American politics. And Obama ranked below both McCain and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination, on the question of whether the candidate was “tough enough” to protect the nation’s security. Obama has “a potential problem … of being seen as an elitist, an intellectual.”Taken together, that’s a formidable catalog of vulnerabilities.
If Obama were a liberal (and had any backbone), I’d have been supporting him from the beginning.  But we really don’t know who he is, or what are his stances on issues.  He tells each group what he thinks it wants to hear.

McConnell: Democrats will ‘turn us into France’ (Washington Times)
The Senate’s top Republican says Democrats’ sights are set on European-style socialism, and derided likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s claims of being a unifier — one of the major selling points the Illinois Democrat makes on the campaign trail. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a likely preview of the Republican line of attack in the general election, said Democratic leaders and Mr. Obama “get up every morning with three things on their minds: more taxes, more regulation and more litigation.” “It’s pretty clear to me that the Democratic agenda is to turn us into France,” the Kentucky Republican told The Washington Times in an unusually blunt interview at his office in the Capitol. “Americans may want change, but the question is, what kind of change?”

Now, Rush Limbaugh jokes, he’ll urge Republicans to ‘cross over’ for McCain (On Politics, USA Today)
“One of my next objectives is to try and convince Republicans to cross over and vote for McCain down the road,” conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh jokingly tells The Politico’s Jonathan Martin.

Blunt: McCain ‘Would Be’ A Third Bush Term On Economy, ‘And I Think That’s A Good Thing’ (Think Progress)
On CNN’s Late Edition [Sunday], former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) claimed that the argument that John McCain would, in effect, be a third Bush term “isn’t going to stick”… But earlier on the same program, a leading McCain surrogate — Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) — conceded that McCain is indeed promising a third Bush term on the economy.
Click through to watch a compilation video.

McCain likely to flip on promise to change GOP abortion platform. (Think Progress)
In 2000, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized George W. Bush during a debate for not being willing to make an exception for rape, incest, and the mother’s life in the Republican Party’s platform on abortion. Despite his prior position, ABC News reports that McCain is unlikely to change the platform to include the exception.

Hardball: Smerconish Likens Arianna To A Hooker Outing A John For Saying John McCain Didn’t Vote For Bush (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
Arianna Huffington has been taking a lot of heat from right wing circles for an entry in her latest book, The Right Is Wrong, where she says John McCain made a point of saying at a Hollywood party that he didn’t vote for George Bush. Now honestly, considering what the Bush campaign did to him in 2000, I don’t blame him. The problem is that he denies it now and says he did vote for Bush. That makes him a liar. He either lied to Arianna (and actors Richard Schiff and Bradley Whitford back up Arianna’s version) back then or he’s lying now.
See how it feels, Arianna?  If you had stood up against this kind of talk about Hillary, you’d have a right to complain about it being used against you.  To paraphrase Rev. Neimoller, “First, they came for Hillary, but I didn’t stand up for her because I didn’t LIKE Hillary…”

McCain to Me in 1999: Bush “As Dumb as a Stump” (By Al Meyerhoff at the Huffington Post)
Over the Fourth of July weekend of 1999, I had the good fortune to accompany my then fiancée (and now happily my wife) to the McCain vacation home in Sedona where she was interviewing them for a Home and Garden Television show. …[A]s McCain flipped burgers, I could not help but ask his views about then candidate George W. Bush. “He’s as dumb as a stump,” McCain offered. We then went on to discuss other matters (including Vietnam) but that quote remains seared in my memory. So how the McCains actually voted that November is between them and their voting booth. But if John McCain did end up voting for Bush, then by his own admission he voted for a stump.

Harwood: McCain ‘Has Benefited From Very Friendly Press Coverage For Many Years’ (Think Progress)
During a discussion of the possible presidential general election match-up between Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) on Meet the Press this morning, John Harwood — CNBC correspondent and New York Times political writer — said that the McCain campaign is already “trying to work the referees in advance” to argue that Obama gets more favorable media coverage than McCain. But Harwood noted that some would find McCain’s strategy “ironic” because the press — whom according to Harwood were McCain’s “base” in 2000 — have been “very friendly” to McCain over the years:

Dems angry over inflammatory views of black GOP magazine
For a sign of Florida Republicans’ all-out effort to attract black voters, look no farther than the glossy full-colored The Black Republican magazine that launches broadsides like these:

Lots more really good stuff at MakeThemAccountable.com.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com