Hillary’s Voice

The Note: Inevitability, Now (ABC News)
The latest entry in the (bulging) Obama files: “This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for,” he told House Democrats Tuesday night, per The Washington Post’s Jonathan Weisman. “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.”… Toss in a jettisoned faux-presidential seal, a canceled visit with troops, maybe a sprinkling of broken promises, and you’ve got enough to weave an uncomfortable yet unforgettable suit.
Rather, Senator Obama, you have MADE yourself into a symbol, one that is not accepted by everyone, even in your party.—Caro

Cannonfire

Gallup Daily: Presidential Race Tightens to 4 Points
Voters’ presidential preferences have settled back to 46% for Barack Obama versus 42% for John McCain, after a brief period during which Obama held a larger lead.

GOP’s celeb-Obama message gains traction (Politico)
Barack Obama’s critics laid down the foundations of the strategy months ago: The Republican National Committee started the “Audacity Watch” back in April, and Karl Rove later fueled the attack by describing the first-term Illinois senator as “coolly arrogant.” It wasn’t until the last week, however, that the narrative of Obama as a president-in-waiting – and perhaps getting impatient in that waiting - began reverberating beyond the e-mail inboxes of Washington operatives and journalists. Perhaps one of the clearest indications emerged Tuesday from the world of late-night comedy, when David Letterman offered his “Top Ten Signs Barack Obama is Overconfident.” The examples included Obama proposing to change the name of Oklahoma to “Oklobama,” and measuring his head for Mount Rushmore.

BarackBook.com (thanks to NewHampster at Alegre’s Corner)

A list of Obama’s achievements (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
A list of Obama’s achievements
1.

Major DNC Donor to Party Treasurer: Obama is a Bad Investment (by NancyA at No Quarter)
“Andy, if I worked and served the people in the 13th District in Chicago, I would have known all of the players. And to win that district, would I have gamed the system to run unopposed? Tony Rezko would not have had a seat at my table… I would not choose Rev. Wright, Rev. Meeks, or Father Plager as my spiritual mentors, not for political reasons… Would I be hanging out with Mr. Ayers? Would you? Would you refuse to be photographed with Gavin Newsom? There is a pattern with this guy - he manipulates; and for him the ends justify the means. He lacks character.

“Getting not one bill passed in the first 6 years of his career in not inspiring. Having Emil Jones hand him the ball 26 times on the one-yard line in order to make Obama a United States Senator does not cut it either. What deals he made, he did to benefit no one but himself… Every person I have talked to who worked at the Law Review at Harvard with him, or in the latter part of his career, said the same thing: he was arrogant and self-centered… Do you not you find it troublesome that he has hundreds of paid bloggers, posting vicious attacks not only about the Clintons but her supporters as well?…

USAT/Gallup: McCain Moves Into National Lead (Political Wire)
Sen. John McCain moved from being behind by 6 points among “likely” voters a month ago to a 4-point lead over Sen. Barack Obama, 49% to 45%, in the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll. The poll was taken over the weekend. McCain still trails among the broader universe of “registered” voters, 44% to 47%. This poll is separate from the Gallup Tracking poll which today shows Obama ahead by 8 points among registered voters, 48% to 40%.

Obama’s Tabloid Strategy (Political Wire )

Bonnie Fuller — the creator of today’s celebrity journalism — comments on the Obama family being photographed for the cover this week’s People magazine and notes “it’s apparent that Team Obama has a clear and clever presidential marketing strategy: present Michelle and Barack as the beloved Brangelina of the political world.”
Maybe this is to counter the tabloids at the supermarket checkout counters that claim Obama is having an illicit affair and that Michelle is leaving him.—Caro

Is Anything Sacred? (The Plank, The New Republic)
Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv was lambasted for printing the note that Obama placed in the Western Wall, allegedly stolen by a Yeshiva student… But according to a statement from Ma’ariv yesterday, the paper alleges that the Obama campaign actually leaked the note to reporters before Obama even placed it in the wall.* Yediot Aharonot, Israel’s most popular daily, claims to have also received a copy of the note but decided not to print it.*

OBAMA LIVE TICKER 07/24/2008 ++ Pop Concert for Obama Fans ++ (Der Spiegel, Germany)
6:33 p.m.: The tens of thousands of Obama fans are being entertained as they await the senator. The reggae musician Patrice kicked things off, followed by the rock band Reamonn.
Is it possible that some of the people who attended the Obama Berlin speech were there for the free music?—Caro

Der Spiegel

‘Will a German Speak at the Washington Monument in 2009?’(Der Spiegel, Germany)
“The speech of a global citizen,” “perfect performance,” an “homage to Berlin” — After Thursday’s big Obama show at Berlin’s Siegessäule, most German politicians seemed impressed by the senator’s performance. But some political experts thought it amounted to nothing more than “rhetoric.”

Change Germans Can’t Believe In (by Susan Neiman, the director of the Einstein Forum, is the author of “Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists.”
WITH gestures that ranged from a wink to a sneer, most anyone you met here this week volunteered the view that Barack Obama’s visit to Europe caused unprecedented frenzy. But it’s been hard for me to find a European, aside from two Harvard-educated friends in Paris, who confessed to excitement — not just about the visit, but the prospect of an Obama presidency… Europeans will be as relieved as 72 percent of Americans to see the end of the Bush administration, but their attitudes toward the Democratic candidate are far from being the same as the ones he arouses at home. Mr. Obama makes Europeans uncomfortable.
Actually, he makes a lot of Americans uncomfortable, too—many of them Democrats.—Caro

Los Angeles Times

Obama’s path to presidency is far from clear (Los Angeles Times)
WASHINGTON — Even as his turn on the global stage hit an emotional peak Thursday with a speech before a cheering crowd of more than 200,000 in Germany, Barack Obama faced new evidence of stubborn election challenges back home. Fresh polls show that he has been unable to convert weeks of extensive media coverage into a widened lead. And some prominent Democrats whose support could boost his campaign are still not enthusiastic about his candidacy… Republicans are moving to exploit this vulnerability, trying to encourage unease among voters by building the impression that Obama’s overseas trip and other actions show he has a sense of entitlement that suggests he believes the White House is already his.

Adding Rove to the mix (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
Everything about Obama’s campaign stinks of [Karl] Rove. The lessons of Rove were not lost on [Obama chief strategist David] Axlerod. Rove has been invloved with this campaign from the gate…
From Cannonfire…: “Rove followed a clear one-two-three strategy.
“1. Pick the Dem with the most skeletonized closet.
“2. Set ‘im up.
“3. Knock ‘im down.”
Also, like clockwork, the media is turning on Obama… So do we get an Obama October Surprise to elevate McCain? Who knows? Frankly, I think we do. The unseen hand has been pushing things along for quite some time now. There is no reason to believe it will stop now.
I, too, wrote something on the strangeness of this primary, and who could possibly be behind it.—Caro

OBAMA’S BERLIN SPEECH: People of the World, Look at Me (Der Spiegel, Germany)

The people of Berlin experienced the full range of Barack Obama’s charisma on Thursday evening. At times he was reserved, at others engaging. Sometimes combative, and also demanding… In the final minutes of his address, Obama called out to the audience: “We must come together to save this planet.” “This is the moment to give our children back their future. … This is the moment to stand as one.”…

While Obama shouted the last few lines of his speech into the crowd, his handlers were already escorting the members of the press that travel with him down from the guest stands. The journalists would be given a few moments to speak with Obama. They were all Americans, all 40 of them. CNN, the New York Times, Newsweek, the Chicago Sun-Times. Members of the foreign press were explicitly unwelcome. The target audience was America. Sorry, Berlin.
We all stand as one except for the foreign media.

Just Hours Later, Obama Campaign Uses Berlin Speech to Raise Campaign Cash (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Shortly after 6 pm Central time — just a few hours after Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, gave his speech in Berlin, which his campaign insisted was not political — his campaign manager, David Plouffe, sent out a fundraising solicitation using the speech to raise campaign cash.

Obama and German leader discuss war and economics (AP)
BERLIN - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as climate and energy issues at Germany’s chancellery Thursday, part of a tour aimed at lifting the first-term senator’s international standing.

Achtung!
My.BarackObama.com

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows Barack Obama attracting 45% of the vote while John McCain earns 42%. When “leaners” are included, it’s Obama 47% and McCain 45% (see recent daily results)… While Obama has been on an overseas tour, 45% of voters say the Democratic hopeful is too inexperienced to be President. That’s up four percentage points from a week ago.
Didn’t I say this trip would only draw attention to his inexperience?

Kass: You can’t deny that reporters generally favor Obama
“When reporters weren’t arguing about getting access to [Barack Obama’s] fact-finding-tour-campaign-commercial this week, they were tossing rose petals before him, so that his feet wouldn’t touch the ground,” writes John Kass [of the Chicago Tribune].

Foreign press: All Obama, all the time (Politico)
Lack of access hasn’t stopped the ink from flowing world-wide, as reporters flock to foreign capitals for this week’s five-country tour.

Matt Davies

Karen Hughes Alert: For Obama, a royal ride to the airport (On Politics, USA Today)
From the tarmac at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan, USA TODAY’s Kathy Kiely just checked in to say that on his way out of town Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama had a truly royal chauffeur. King Abdullah was behind the wheel.

Obama Quest - Bethlehem (video, The Daily Show)
Barack Obama makes a short visit to the manger in Bethlehem where he was born.

Karen Hughes Alert: Palestinian makes Obama bagel for candidate visit
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian baker Nasir Abdul Hadi is so grateful Barack Obama is making time to visit the West Bank that he has named a bagel after him.

Dog Bites Man Dept.: Obama arrives in Israel, says he’ll strengthen US-Israel ties (On Politics, USA Today)
USA TODAY’s Kathy Kiely, traveling with Barack Obama, reports that the Democratic presidential candidate has arrived at Ben Gurion airport inTel Aviv. He exited the plane just before 11 p.m. local time and in a brief statement said he wanted to reaffirm his commitment to maintaining strong U.S.-Israel ties. “The most important idea for me to reaffirm is the historic and special relationship between the United States and Israel,”  he said. That relationship would be “not only continued but actually strengthened in an Obama administration.”

Hannity scores $100 million contract. (Think Progress)
The Wall Street Journal reports that Fox News host Sean Hannity has signed a $100 million contract with ABC Networks and Premiere Radio Networks to cover five more years of his radio show. The deal will allow both ABC and Clear Channel to distribute his show, starting in December. Rush Limbaugh recently signed a $400 million contract with Premiere.
Why is it that not one progressive commentator in any medium comes anywhere near making this kind of money?  Why don’t progressives support their media?

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll Monday, July 21, 2008
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows Barack Obama attracting 42% of the vote while John McCain earns 41%. That’s the lowest level of support measured for Obama since he clinched the Democratic Presidential nomination on June 3… McCain is viewed favorably by 57% of voters, Obama by 53%… A growing percentage of voters also believe that most reporters are trying to help Obama win the election. [Emphasis added.] Forty-nine percent (49%) hold that view while only 14% believe reporters are trying to help McCain.

The Confluence

Sources say McCain Veep Pick to Come This Week (by Bob Novak, Evans-Novak Political Report)
Sources close to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign are suggesting he will reveal the name of his vice presidential selection this week while Sen. Barack Obama is getting the headlines on his foreign trip.
He’d BETTER do something really dramatic, if he wants to get a word in edgewise.

Media Tenor: Foreign Policy Impacts Image (by Media Tenor)
Obama’s advantage in polls and predictions narrows
McCain dominates on Iraq and foreign policy
Candidates jockey for position on economy

Reuters

Obama debuts new campaign plane (The Swamp, Chicago Tribune)
The president arrives in foreign countries aboard Air Force One with the words “United States of America” emblazoned across the fuselage. Well, presidential candidate Barack Obama debuts on the international stage with a newly reconfigured campaign plane with its own distinctive message painted across it, “Change We Can Believe In.” On the tail, instead of the American flag on the presidential plane, is the rising-sun logo of the Obama campaign.

CBS scores first Obama interview abroad (Politico)
Forty journalists, including such leading correspondents as Dan Balz of The Washington Post, will be aboard his plane for next week’s swing through Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England. The campaign received 200 requests for press seats on the plane. Among those for whom there was no room was Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent of The New Yorker. The campaign, which was furious about the magazine’s satirical cover this week, cited space constraints in turning him away.
It wasn’t just the cover.  The Obama campaign has to be furious about the Lizza article in the same issue.  It dared to cover a lot of Obama’s rise in Chicago politics.

Time’ Publishes Definitive Obama Puff Piece (The Onion)
NEW YORK—Hailed by media critics as the fluffiest, most toothless, and softest-hitting coverage of the presidential candidate to date, a story in this week’s Time magazine is being called the definitive Barack Obama puff piece.

“No news publication has dared to barely scratch the surface like this before,” columnist and campaign reporter Michael King wrote in The Washington Post Tuesday. “This profile sets a benchmark for mindless filler by which all other features about Sen. Obama will now be judged. Just impressive puff-journalism all around.”
FUNNY satire, you see, is based on truth.

Obama at breakfast with troops: ‘Food is excellent … company is even better’ (On Politics, USA Today)
The Associated Press has posted online two minutes’ worth of Defense Department raw video taken this morning as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had breakfast with U.S. troops in Kabul… [Click through to watch the video.] TV viewers will be seeing a lot of Obama in coming days, as he travels from Central Asia to the Middle East and Europe. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton says Obama will give two interviews to each of the major broadcast networks during the week, culminating with an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press next Sunday. Burton said Obama will tape that interview Saturday in London, his last stop on the seven-nation tour before returning home to Chicago.
Do you suppose any of these so-called journalists will dare to ask the senator why he’s highlighting his complete lack of foreign policy experience by going on this boondoggle?  Silly question, I know.

How many Obots does it take to screw in a lightbulb? (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Two. One does the screwing, while the other beats your face in if you don’t see the light.

Obama Up Against The Wall (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

Obama’s globe-prancing, as if he is already the elected President of the United States, has instigated a dispute within a foreign country. The distinction between elected state leaders and a partisan candidate (one who has yet to be formally nominated!) has not escaped German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was upset by the request by Barack Obama to give a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, calling such a rally “inappropriate.” She does not believe that Germany should give any impression that it is involved in American political races. The Obama team is apparently surprised at the controversy, which in itself reveals a lack of understanding of the world community and international protocol. One cannot bluster into a sovereign foreign country without regard for its tradition and political situation.

Time for Some Campaignin’ (Jib Jab, set to Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’)

The motivation for blocking investigations into Bush lawbreaking (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
Harper’s Scott Horton [Monday] interviewed Jane Mayer about her new book, The Dark Side. The first question he asked was about the Bush administration’s fear that they would be criminally prosecuted for implementing what the International Red Cross had categorically described as “torture.” Mayer responded … [that a] complicating factor is that key members of Congress sanctioned this program, so many of those who might ordinarily be counted on to lead the charge are themselves compromised.”… In light of this sordid history of active complicity, is it really any wonder that these leading Democrats are desperate to quash any investigations or judicial adjudications of Bush administration actions that they knew about and did nothing to stop, in some cases even actively supporting?

Nope (by lambert at Corrente)
Matt Stoller writes: “Not one Democratic candidate for Congress or current member of Congress - save Russ Feingold - would lay the blame for the FISA debacle were it belongs, not just with Bush but also with the House Democratic leadership…” Nope. Last I checked, the United States had a bicameral legislature at the Federal level, and in the upper chamber, called the Senate — that is, not the lower chamber, the “House” of Representives — the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, and hence the putative leader of the party, one Barack Obama by name, cast his vote in favor of the “debacle.”… It’s the entire Democrat Party leadership, including Barack Obama, that’s responsible for the FISA “debacle,” and the reason they voted to destroy the Fourth Amendment and Constitutional government is that they want to.

Obama and McCain coverage: “Nuts” or a “disgrace”? (by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters)
Last week, after being hyped by Matt Drudge and Fox News, the Beltway press unanimously decided that Rev. Jesse Jackson’s whispered comments, picked up on a live television set mic, in which he expressed anger with Sen. Barack Obama and used some crude language to convey his sentiments (i.e. he wanted to cut off Obama’s “nuts”), represented a hugely important event. It was the most-covered campaign story of the week. By contrast, McCain said at a campaign appearance in Denver on July 7 that the Social Security system as structured in America, in which younger people pay taxes to support the benefits of retirees, is an “absolute disgrace” — but his proclamation was mostly passed over as being irrelevant. The disconnect between the coverage was astounding.

As of Sunday morning, only 17 major metropolitan newspapers in America had reported on McCain’s “disgraceful” remark, in a total of 20 articles and columns, according to search of Nexis. By contrast, more than 50 major U.S. dailies published a total of 126 articles and columns about the Jackson story.

Nadler: In a ‘just system,’ Bush ‘would be impeached.’ (Think Progress)
[Tuesday], on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who has held several hearings on the Bush administration’s torture program, said…: “…If we had a just system and it weren’t overly political, the president would be impeached. I think he has committed impeachable offenses.”
Click through to watch the video.

Kucinich wins hearings but not on impeaching Bush
WASHINGTON - Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s single impeachment article will get a committee hearing — but not on removing President Bush from office. The House on Tuesday voted 238-180 to send his article of impeachment — for Bush’s reasoning for taking the country to war in Iraq — to the Judiciary Committee, which buried Kucinich’s previous effort.
At least Speaker Pelosi allowed House members to vote on Kucinich’s article to impeach George Bush.  Was she influenced by the rumor posted at MakeThemAccountable about Rahm Emanuel wanting her job?  And does Politico read MakeThemAccountable?  See below.

What does Rahm want? (Politico)
Before he was mentioned as a possible Senate successor to Barack Obama, before he helped lead the Democrats back to power in the House, before he was even elected to his first term as the congressman from the North Side of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel was telling friends that he had one goal in life: to become the first Jewish speaker of the House.

Taking a Cue From Ants on Evolution of Humans (New York Times)
Many evolutionary biologists have been persuaded, by works like “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins, that the gene is the only level at which natural selection acts. Dr. [Edward O.] Wilson, changing his mind because of new data about the genetics of ant colonies, now believes that natural selection operates at many levels, including at the level of a social group. It is through multilevel or group-level selection — favoring the survival of one group of organisms over another — that evolution has in Dr. Wilson’s view brought into being the many essential genes that benefit the group at the individual’s expense. In humans, these may include genes that underlie generosity, moral constraints, even religious behavior.

“Groups with men of quality — brave, strong, innovative, smart and altruistic — would tend to prevail, as Darwin said, over those groups that do not have those qualities so well developed,” Dr. Wilson said. “Now that, obviously, is a rather unpopular idea, very politically incorrect if pushed, but nevertheless Darwin may have been right about that. Undoubtedly that will be another big controversy.”
The reason why the right is so wrong is that right-wing ideology presumes unbridled selfishness is not only good, it’s what leads to the best outcome for us all. As this article shows, more and more research is available showing that selfishness isn’t the whole answer.  It’s a complete mystery why I can’t get a book published on this topic, as applied to the political process.

Former Obama Supporters - dot - com (by TexasDarlin at No Quarter)

“Gaffes Drove the Campaign Narrative Last Week: July 7 - 13, 2008? (Project for Excellence in Journalism)
[Rev. Jesse] Jackson’s derogatory remarks about Obama, made when he [supposedly] thought he was off camera and off mike while preparing to appear on a Fox News program, was the biggest campaign storyline in the media last week, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s Campaign Coverage Index… It was not the only statement by a non-candidate to steer the campaign narrative last week. The comments by John McCain economic advisor, former Senator Phil Gramm, that the country’s economic problems are mostly a “mental recession” in the minds of whiny consumers, was the second-biggest storyline last week. Indeed, together the two gaffes comprised nearly a quarter of the campaign coverage studied (23%)… One other trend to emerge last week was that Democrat Obama again received more coverage than Republican McCain. Obama was at least a significant presence in fully 77% of the campaign stories studied, compared with 48% for McCain.

HAPPY BASTILLE DAY, AMERICA!
 ALLONS ENFANTS DE LA PATRIE—
TO THE BARRICADES!

Artist General

Hillary for VP? Bwahahahahahhhh! (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Here’s the story, PUMAs: “Barack Obama doesn’t rule out Clinton for VP”… [T]he money’s not coming in, the poll numbers are starting to look alarming, FISA didn’t go so well and there’s too much time left before the convention.  We can’t put Hillary on the ballot.  If we do that, she might just pull it out.  By late August, Obama could be in real trouble.  How do we get everyone on board and yet still keep firm control of the party and Obama? By George!  Let’s float the idea that we’re considering making her VP!  It’s brilliant!  Some of the low info holdouts might go for that.  It just might be enough to swing the sucker for BO.  We don’t have to actually follow through.  We’ll just leave the possibility hanging out there.  Once it gains enough traction, people will say it’s the best consolation prize she’s likely to get and they’ll accept it…

Wow!  I never thought I’d say this but it’s a good thing that low info voters watch Fox.  Otherwise, they might not even know there was a PUMA movement.  Hey, if Clinton is getting under their skin enough to make them offer her VP, she might as well go for the whole thing.  Maybe some seniors my Mom’s age would settle for second place, but none of the PUMAs *I* know would.  When they start screaming “VP!”, then it’s working.  No backing off now, guys. Full speed ahead to Denver.

About that platform writing thing: It’s all about the data (by lambert at Corrente)
I know I’m bitter and cynical, but I’ve always found and find the whole Obama site totally off-putting. Never mind the creepy soft-focus feel to the graphics, it’s the words:.. “You have the power to contribute directly to the Democratic platform, but in order for your thoughts to be incorporated, your event must be registered in our system… Please ensure that all members of your Platform Meeting have signed in and registered so that we know who was in attendance… If you’d prefer, you can mail sign-in sheets…” They want that data so bad, they’ll take it via snail mail and key it themselves… Say, anybody know where the Obama Movement’s privacy policy is? Like, what they can do with your data once you’ve “shared” it with them, and who they can sell it to?… The whole thing gave me the creeps. It makes me feel like signing up with Amway or something.

Wikimedia Commons

PUMAs Pounce On Clinton’s Campaign Debt (by grlpatriot at Alegre’s Corner)
The netroots July 4th fundraiser to help Hillary Clinton retire campaign debt has been a huge success. Just Say No Deal coalition spokesperson, Will [Bower], announced in an interview [Thursday] on FOX News that fund raising estimates ranged from a conservative $6 million to as much as $10 million within one week. Will also stated that the coalition has grown to 2.5 million members with over 230 blogs and websites. That’s impressive for a coalition that formed just 23 days ago.
Click through to watch the video.

CALL TO ALL HILLARY SUPPORTERS…TAKE ACTION ON SATURDAY, JULY 19^th
Saturday, July 19th, 2008 is the 160th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention (The first Women’s Rights Convention), during which the Declaration of Sentiments was adopted. On Saturday July 19th, 2008, Senator Clinton’s Supporters will gather together nationwide to celebrate this historic anniversary at house parties, cocktail parties, and public gathering places, where they will adopt their own “Declaration of Resolutions” at “Resolution Day” parties nationwide. Please visit: http://july19action.blogspot.com/ For all the details of how to get involved.
Will Bower of PUMA/Just Say No Deal told WorldNetDaily (I know, I know) that “Eight super-delegates left Obama this week.”  Bower has confirmed to me via email that calls by his groups to superdelegates have resulted in eight superdelegates changing their minds.  It made my week.

PUMA=Bull Moose? (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
Something tells me that Bill Clinton is a die hard PUMA. In a speech to the Governor’s Association meeting, Bill extolled the virtues of the original progressive, Teddy Roosevelt… John McCain seemed to be channeling Bill as well when he made a similar observaton… Could this be a coded message to PUMAS, from both Bill Clinton and McCain?  As I’m sure Clinton knows, Teddy knew a thing or two about being run out of his party.  In fact, TR and Hillary have a lot in common.
Click through for a very interesting history lesson, including the reminder that Roosevelt didn’t sit still for rejection by the Republican party bosses.  He started a third party.

Artist General

Rescue Mission! (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
According to our reliable sources, … the DNC has been pressuring Hillary  to pay her campaign debt or it will force her to release her delegates or have a merely symbolic role at the convention.  Originally, they were going to give her til the end of the month to pay the rent, then they moved it up to July 15.  Now, it’s imminent.  Drat!  Hillary must be flipping some of the Superdelegates or the DNC wouldn’t be so dastardly. Oh, heck, sure they would. They’re like that. Once again, we are asking you to do the impossible and reach down into your pocket, waaayyy down where the lint grows, and pull up a couple bucks for Hillary that you might have spent on that iced double caramel latte.
Or more, if you can manage it.  Donate here.

Disappointment ahead for Obama faithful (by Bill Maxwell, St. Petersburg Times)
I am newly attracted to the subject of disappointment because of the euphoria and pronouncements of “hope and change” surrounding the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama. Frankly, I have little regard for Obama’s campaign because of its inherent falsity. In the end, much of it will disappoint millions of devotees because it has no room for failure and lost hope. Obama will not deliver on many promises, and many supporters will find themselves stung by hopelessness.
MakeThemAccountable readers may remember that this has been one of my enduring arguments against Obama’s candidacy—that even if he does attract a lot of new people to the party, which we’ve seen no evidence of so far—he’s bound to disappoint most of them.  And most people aren’t as crazy as we political junkies.  They won’t keep at it no matter what, they’ll just give up.  And many of them will be forever disgusted with and alienated from the political process.

That’s what happens when you promise more than you can deliver.  That’s what happens when you make yourself a blank canvas on which people paint their own hopes and dreams.  As Obama said himself, “I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”  It’s the best recipe for disappointment and disillusionment, because no one person can fulfill all of those hopes and dreams.  Just ask Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, who sold himself in the same hopey-changey way and now has had his “The Candidate” moment.  The latest SurveyUSA poll shows his approval rating at 40% and his disapproval rating at a whopping 55%.  And just so you’ll know, Patrick and Obama have been marketed by the same merchant of hope, David Axelrod.

Breaking! DNC Deadline of this FRIDAY re Debt (by Alegre)
Someone just confirmed that there is a DNC deadline of this Friday for wiping out Hillary’s campaign debt you guys. If we don’t get this taken care of by then they’ll use this to pressure Hillary re keeping her name off the ballot in Denver.  That means no real Roll Call vote! NO WONDER BHO’s donors dragged their feet in helping to wipe out this debt.  DAMMIT all they had to do is sit on their hands and the DNC would finish this off by ending all hope of an open and honest vote in Denver.  It’s just like the revote in Michigan. So here’s the deal - we need to GIVE UNTIL IT HURTS on Thursday and Friday.  Take care of the last of that debt and tell Howard, Nancy and Donna (ESPECIALLY Donna!) go get stuffed. D O N A T E  H E R E!
Or buy some tshirts.  See below.

If the server is down, keep trying.

Networks May Cut Coverage of Convention (Political Wire)
Citing increased costs, the major television networks “are considering curtailing coverage of the Democratic National Convention after Monday’s announcement that Sen. Barack Obama will accept his party’s nomination in a Denver stadium,” Politico reports. The change in venue “could add hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs to already cash-strapped news divisions.”
Said one CBS News executive: “It does add to the overall question of how the networks should cover what is a non-news event.”
The Democrats had the greatest reality show of the last 50 years going, and they couldn’t wait to stop it, and hand the whole party over to one of the candidates.  They could have had America on the edges of their seats through the entire convention.  But NO!  STOP all that democracy!  The poohbahs couldn’t stand it!

Dear Donna, if you don’t have time to do it right… (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
[According] to the Wall Street Journal and the NYTimes [Tuesday]… “ ‘There’s nothing symbolically wrong to putting [Clinton’s] name in [nomination at the convention],’ followed by a scripted withdrawal, said Ms. Brazile. But the spectacle of a rapturous welcome for Sen. Clinton would be irresistible to television and could embarrass Sen. Obama.”… But the thing I want to point out to you, Donna, you dumb@$$, is that a floor fight, complete with “heightened political tensions” could be the best thing that happens to your candidate.  Let him present his case to the superdelegates.  Let them hear from Clinton as well.  Let the best PERSON win.  If it’s Barack Obama, if he suddenly displays the leadership abilities you have said he posesses (and which we have yet to see), then the party will unite behind him and we will go forward together, not altogether happy about it, but much more reconciled than we are now.  But to preclude such an event, to truncate the process is to leave those bad feelings intact and will almost guarantee that the party will continued to be fractured.

My View: I Do Not Believe Obama On The FISA Capitulation Bill (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Yesterday, Barack Obama said: “…‘You’re not going to agree with me on 100 percent of what I think, but don’t assume that if I don’t agree with you on something that it must be because I’m doing that politically,’ he said. ‘I may just disagree with you.’” I do not believe Barack Obama. I will go further. I do not want to believe him. Because the alternative is worse. Because if Obama believes the BS he said about the FISA Capitulation bill, then he is not fit to be President. If Barack Obama really believes [what he says] about the FISA Capitulation bill, then he is as dangerous as George W. Bush.

Congressional Approval Hits New Low (Political Wire)
A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows just 9% of Americans believe Congress is doing a good or excellent job. That’s down from 11% in June and 15% at the beginning of 2008.
Why, oh why, are Congress’ ratings so low?  FISA is one thing, but Congress shows us over and over how the Bush administration tail wags the constitutional dog.  People know what’s going on.  They just can’t fool us all of the time.

Gallup: July leaders often lose in November (On Politics, USA Today)
Yet another reason why we try to always attach a warning “sign” to posts we do about campaign-related polls: Gallup writes that “July leader lost in 6 of last 9 competitive U.S. elections.” Yesterday’s Gallup “tracking” poll, by the way, gave Democrat Barack Obama a 47%-43% lead over Republican John McCain (margin of error: +/- 2 percentage points).

“Moving To The Middle” Garners Obama Zero Votes (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
What Bowers Said: “According to Rasmussen, that CW is mirrored by the shifting perceptions of the general public, who view Obama as less liberal than they did one month ago. . . . So, now that Obama is perceived as moving to the center, while McCain is still perceived as conservative, Obama’s poll numbers should improve, right? Wrong. According to the daily tracking poll from the same polling firm, Rasmussen, the campaign has not changed at all as a result of Obama being perceived as less liberal.”… So Obama has ceded important ground on issues and gotten no help at all (indeed, it likely will hurt him in the longer run) politically. Hell of a move there Obama campaign.