Hillary’s Voice

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The founders’ rights stuff (by Rosa Brooks, Los Angeles Times)
This Fourth of July, celebrate by rereading the Declaration of Independence, created by more or less the same crowd who brought us the Constitution, 11 years and one war later. Remember it? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Wild stuff! To the founders, “all men” have “unalienable rights” — not just U.S. citizens in the continental United States. (If the founding fathers were around today, Rush Limbaugh and Rudy Giuliani would pillory them as limp-wristed, latte-drinking, soft-on-terror liberals.)…

[T]he people who founded this nation risked war, prison and death for the sake of unalienable human rights. Their values guided us through good times and bad, through the Civil War, two world wars and the Cold War. But today, some Americans seem happy to discard those same precious values in the name of “security.” Sometimes I wonder: If the founders could have foreseen this, would they have bothered to fight the Revolutionary War?

Judge Rejects Bush’s View on Wiretaps (New York Times)
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the “exclusive” means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government’s claim that the president’s constitutional authority as commander in chief trumped that law… Judge [Vaughn R.] Walker’s voice carries extra weight because all the lawsuits involving telephone companies that took part in the N.S.A. program have been consolidated and are being heard in his court… The ruling comes as the Senate is overhauling the foreign intelligence law. [Emphasis added.] The measure would reaffirm FISA as the exclusive means for the president to order wiretaps through court warrants, but it would also provide legal immunity to phone companies involved in the eavesdropping program. A vote could come Tuesday.

Obama’s Vote for Warrantless Wiretapping (by donpedro at Economists for Obama)
Obama’s failure to oppose the warrantless wiretapping bill … has given me some pause and made me think perhaps I should send my political contributions elsewhere. The immunity for lawbreaking telecoms is one of the events of the Bush years that has most angered me. The current FISA is perfectly capable of dealing with surveillance, and empowering the president to monitor my phone calls and e-mails is plainly a violation of the 4th Amendment… Why, after voting against the Protect [America] Act and saying he would support any filibuster of immunity for lawbreaking telecoms, is Obama now saying he will vote for the new law? I don’t understand.

Sweetie Gets Paid (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

Democrats and Unity Drive the Campaign Narrative: June 23 - 29, 2008 (Project for Excellence in Journalism)
Barack Obama’s efforts to heal the wounds of the primary battle and to reconcile with the Clintons were the major story lines in last week’s coverage of the Presidential campaign.

No Where Else to Go (by Anglachel)
The split of the Democratic electorate … has been followed by growing resistance to the designated nominee. This is not something I have seen before on the Democratic side… Symptomatic of the deep problem of the party as a whole is the turn by the leadership towards privatization of social risk. Health insurance is not a mandate, and thus a right, but a choice to be exercised if desired. This ignores power, especially the power of the state to defend the citizen against the encroachment of moneyed interests. The well-off [Stevensonian elite] are no longer interested in defending the material needs of those who are not a part of Whole Foods Nation, and they hide their abandonment under the guise of rejecting racism. If the problem is the state of your soul and not the condition of your medical care, then you must heal yourself, and they can smugly pat themselves on the back for having defended the right moral stance.

The message of economic justice still resonates with the majority of Democrats, as shown by Hillary’s intense support, but that message is not accepted as true. When we talk about it, we’re met by screams of “Racist! Racist!” and sneers that we have nowhere else to go. How can Obama’s content-free message make contact with the real world? There is nothing to attach his rhetoric to, no central organizing principle. He talks about the “smallness of our politics,” so what is it precisely that is to be enlarged? He has always backed away from the hard choice of throwing the power of the state behind the cause of social justice. At every point, Obama backs away from requiring these efforts, while Hillary embraced them. The Stevensonians have forced their preferred candidate on the party on their own terms, paying no mind to where they stand and what they want to accomplish. They may be centrists, but they no longer have a center to hold.

For Clinton Democrats, there is nowhere else to go with Obama because there was never anything there to begin with.

DNC protests will be behind fence (Denver Post)
The fence around the public demonstration zone outside the Democratic National Convention will be chicken wire or chain link, authorities revealed in U.S. District Court [Monday]… But the American Civil Liberties Union and several advocacy groups have filed an amended complaint to their lawsuit against the U.S. Secret Service and the city and county of Denver that says protestors and demonstrators may have their First Amendment rights violated by security restrictions.

From Steve Bradenton in 2004

Attacking” McCain’s Military Record (by Zachary Roth, Columbia Journalism Review)
The McCain camp, sensing an opportunity, complained that Clark had “attacked John McCain’s military service record.” Of course, Clark had done nothing of the kind. He had questioned the relevance of McCain’s combat experience as a qualification to be president of the United States. This is a distinction that you’d expect any reasonably intelligent nine-year old to be able to grasp. But many in the press have been unable to.

Jamiol’s World

David Bromwich: Congress to Bush and Cheney: Do What You Want in Iran
In late 2007, after winning an election whose central issue was a more prudent and rational policy in the Middle East, congressional Democrats, obedient to the wishes of a Presidential Finding, signed away $400 million for secret operations against Iran. A more craven act of submission would be hard to imagine; and they did this in the glow of victory, in direct contradiction of their mandate. What were they signing for? Sabotage, assassination, covert support for political clients and “destabilization” generally are predictable parts of such a design; but the Democrats, in the months between their capitulation and Hersh’s article, made no mention of dissatisfactions at having been cut off from oversight. The truth seems to be that in this area, as in so many others, only the Office of the Vice President oversees the Office of the President.

“The process is broken,” one of Seymour Hersh’s informants told him, “and this is dangerous stuff we’re authorizing.” Yet the Democrats in the “Gang of Eight” whom the president consults on classified programs — Reid, Pelosi, Rockefeller, Reyes — may prefer to have things broken. What they don’t know, can’t hurt them at the polls, or so they seem to believe. It is the same passive obedience that led the Democrats to close the debate early for the authorization of the Iraq war in 2002, so they could clear the decks for the election; to banish all use of the words Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, in late 2004, so they could clear the decks for the election; and to confine themselves to flawless platitudes about Iraq in 2008, so they can clear the decks for the election. The desertion of principle is exceeded only by the evasion of responsibility.

FISA: Jonathan Turley says, Dems are protecting THEMSELVES. (by BonzoDogBand at Daily Kos)
Legal scholar Jonathan Turley was a guest on Countdown last [Wednesday] night (watch the MSNBC video here), where Turley concluded to Keith Olbermann that the FISA immunity compromise now happening is most likely because top Dems themselves fear retribution for their complicity in Bush’s illegal spying activities. Jonathan Turley makes the point that several years ago, certain top Dems were intimidated by Bush into quietly going along with Bush’s illegal spying activities, and now those same Dems are afraid that they themselves could be held liable for any illegal spying committed by Bush and the Telecomm companies (Turley used the words “an obvious level of [Dem] collusion”.) Keith Olbermann then concluded by saying that the Dems are thus “covering their own asses here”.
Dang!  I should have caught this.  I was suspicious early on, and then it slipped my mind.  I hate to link to Daily Kos, but this is an important catch.  Obama has obviously bought in to this total capitulation to the neocons—who originated at the University of Chicago, where he taught law, by the way.

Michelle Obama promotes Unity in New Hampshire (On Politics, USA Today)
Michelle Obama is on the unity bandwagon. Speaking to an audience of women in Manchester, N.H., some of whom supported Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Obama just called Clinton “an extraordinary woman” and praised her work to help children and families. Obama noted that Clinton would be traveling with her husband [Friday] to Unity, the little New Hampshire town that gave Clinton and Barack Obama 107 votes apiece.

N.H. Clinton supporters slow to follow her embrace of Obama (McClatchy)
UNITY, N.H. — Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton plan a show of unity in this tiny New Hampshire town on Friday, but much of the crowd that will be watching them, as well as Democrats throughout this swing state, isn’t yet ready to follow their lead.

PUMAs stalk Unity Pony (by mawminc at The Confluence)

Good Evening Conflucians.  It is almost the witching hour.  The PUMA spirit is coming alive as garychapelhill and I speed through the night towards New Hampshire.  [Friday] we will make our voices heard and draw the curtain back to expose this “Unity” rally for what it is, a big staged performance designed to fool the country that we are all uniting behind the presumptuous nominee. Stay tuned…  We can’t promise live blogging, but we will definitely have a wrap up and plenty of video.
Keep up with PUMA doings at PUMA Action.

Daily Show: Terror Attack + Election = Republican Victory (by SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars)

In light of Charlie Black’s ridiculous and revealing comments to Fortune magazine Monday, Jon Stewart shows how Republicans are calculating their winning November strategy. “Why is it that a terror attack helps Republicans? Well, it’s quite simple. A terror attack, when added to an election, equals Republican.”
But it works.  It’s what I’ve been warning everyone about.  See below for the results.  Click through to watch the video.

Gallup Daily: Obama, McCain Tied at 45%
Barack Obama and John McCain, who have been closely matched in Gallup Poll Daily tracking for the last week, are now even at 45% each.

Feingold on FISA “Compromise”: “It’s not even a fig leaf; it’s a joke.” (by SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars)
Senator Russ Feingold joined Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! Tuesday to speak out about the reprehensible FISA “compromise” brokered by House Leader Steny Hoyer. Feingold has always been the most articulate and outspoken voice on Constitutional liberties, and he sure didn’t hold back. “SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD: It’s not even a fig leaf; it’s a joke. It does not in any way prevent the ruling from that court, basically automatically, of immunity.”
Click through to watch the video.

They finally have our needs in mind (by NewHampster at Partizane)

Dems Who Flipped On FISA Immunity See More Telecom Cash (The Crypt, CBS News)
House Democrats who flipped their votes to support retroactive immunity for telecom companies in last week’s FISA bill took thousands of dollars more from phone companies than Democrats who consistently voted against legislation with an immunity provision, according to an analysis by MAPLight.org.

Feingold to filibuster warrantless wiretapping bill
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., will take steps this week to filibuster a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform proposal that provides retroactive immunity to telecommunications corporations that violate the privacy rights of customers by sharing information with illegal spying programs. Feingold and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd — both longtime critics of the immunity provision — indicated they would take steps to block the bill after members of groups such as TrueMajority.org on Tuesday urged senators to use all procedural strategies available to them to stall the rapid progress of Bush administration-backed legislation that would bar consumer lawsuits against telephone companies that are guilty of spying on Americans.
That is LEADERSHIP.

Reid to co-sponsor effort to strip retroactive immunity from FISA bill. (Think Progress)
[Tuesday], Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) promised to do everything they can to strip retroactive immunity from “compromise” wiretapping legislation, including a filibuster. In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) office says he will co-sponsor and support their efforts.

Lawsuit could be power shake-up for Obama, McCain
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama and John McCain, two senators who want to become president, are trying not to pick sides in the White House’s court fight with Congress over executive privilege.
That is NOT leadership.

United in Unity, NH (Political Wire )
Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton will make their first joint campaign appearance on Friday in Unity, New Hampshire. Both candidates received exactly 107 votes in the town during the January primary.

Excuses, Excuses (by Charles Lemos at No Quarter, from his blog, By The Fault)

A round up of comments in Obamaland (Talking Points Memo and Crooks and Liars, I dare not tread the threads on the DailyKos, not enough disinfectant in California to delouse me later) on Senator Obama and FISA:

“105 Democratic representatives voted for the bill. Obama doesn’t have the political capital to win this battle. It’s silly for him to make his last stand here when he’s fighting for the presidency–the larger war.” - Because the Constitution is just a scrap of paper.

“Let’s keep in mind that Senator Obama is a Constitutional lawyer, and calm down until we know exactly what we are talking about.” - More like he lectured on Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago, I don’t think he ever practised in the field and he certainly isn’t practising in it now, but hope springs eternal.

“…I can see already that driving himself into a buzzsaw with his own party over this one issue will not win him the election. He needs to keep his eye on the prize and as others have stated not look weak grandstanding over something he can’t change anyway.” - Apparently, an election matters more than the Constitution.
Click through for more.

How Hoyer got the deal done (Politico)
In an interview with Politico on Monday, Hoyer called the FISA legislation a “significant victory” for the Democratic Party… According to several Democratic insiders, Hoyer was able to keep the [“compromise”] talks going by pointing out that he, more than anyone else in the room, was taking a huge political risk by trying to reach a deal. The Democratic leader in the House was also able to bridge the rancor between the two main Senate negotiators and their respective aides, joking frequently during tense negotiations and keeping the conversation going despite an obvious animosity in the room, aides said.
One can only imagine what those jokes were about.

Lobbying Firms RSVP “No” to Conventions (Capital Eye)
Two of Washington’s most influential lobbying firms have taken a hint (or maybe a hit) from the presumptive presidential nominees’ anti-lobbyist mantra and won’t be involved in this summer’s presidential nominating conventions. Both Cassidy and Associates and Van Scoyoc Associates will not attend either political party’s gathering, sponsor parties or donate to the host committees that organize the four-day fetes, according to The Hill… And while John McCain and Barack Obama continue to distance themselves from the influence of lobbyists, contributions from the industry have not changed much compared to the last presidential election cycle. In 2004, the lobbying industry ranked 14th in our industry tallies of campaign contributions, which is the same position it holds so far in 2008. The biggest change in lobbyist contributions is where the money is going. In 2004 Republicans received 52 percent of the industry’s contributions; now Democrats are claiming 56 percent.

Time Magazine uncritically prints Nancy Pelosi’s “justifications” for the FISA “compromise” (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
What the Democratic leadership is saying is quite clear: we will continue to trample on the Constitution and support endless expansions of the surveillance state because that is how we’ll win in swing districts and expand our Congressional majority… The only objective of Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer is to have a 50-seat majority rather than a 35-seat majority, and if enabling the Bush administration’s lawbreaking and demolishing core constitutional protections can assist somewhat with that goal, then that it what they will do. That’s what they are saying all but explicitly here.

Until that calculus changes, their behavior never will. That’s why it is so vital to target and defeat selected Democrats in Congress who are enabling these unconstitutional and lawless assaults. Democratic leaders need to learn that this strategy won’t work.
If you’ve read MakeThemAccountable only since January, you may remember that I have been saying something similar for months.  While much of the blogosphere was ecstatic over Obama’s supposed ability to attract independents, and even Republicans, to vote for him, I was warning that maybe we don’t want those folks dragging the party leadership EVEN FURTHER TO THE RIGHT.  Just call me Cassandra.  Maybe someday I’ll get some respect.

The Great Seal of Obamaland? (The Caucus, New York Times)

At a discussion with a dozen Democratic governors in Chicago on Friday morning, each of the governors was identified with a small name plate but Senator Barack Obama sat behind a low rostrum to which was attached an official-looking seal no one had seen before. It is emblazoned with a fierce-looking eagle clutching an olive branch in one claw and arrows in the other and is deliberately reminiscent of the official seal of the president of the United States… Just above the eagle’s head are the words “Vero Possumus,” roughly translated “Yes we can.” Not exactly E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One), the motto on the presidential seal and the dollar bill. Then again, Mr. Obama is not the president.

Democrats Hoyer, Pelosi Hand White House Sweeping Legislative Victories (by Jason Leopold at The Public Record)
When Democrats regained control of Congress for the first time in 12 years nearly in November 2006, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi explained the significance behind the record voter turnout that helped shift in the balance of power in Washington. “People voted for change and they voted for Democrats who will take our country in a new direction,” Pelosi said during a victory speech in San Francisco on Nov. 8, 2006… In a one-two punch Thursday and Friday, Democrats, led by Pelosi, gave the Bush administration sweeping new domestic spy powers, immunized telecom companies that participated in possibly illegal surveillance of American citizens, and agreed to further fund the occupation of Iraq with a promise to the White House that the final bill would not include benchmarks or timetables for withdrawal.

Obama says he supports FISA compromise (War Room, Salon)
Barack Obama has … released a statement regarding his position on the controversial compromise reached in Congress on the president’s wiretapping powers, and clarifying his support for the compromise. The deal includes a provision that grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in warrantless eavesdropping; Obama says he opposes the provision and will work to have it removed. Separately, in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “I’m going to try — and I don’t know that I can do that — but I’m going to try real hard to have a separate vote on immunity and then vote on the legislation itself … It appears, with the action that the House has taken, that, probably, we can’t take that out of the bill. But I’m going to try because I am totally opposed to immunity.”
Oh, yeah, they’re trying REAL hard.  Or at least pretending to, so that they can have their cake and eat it, too.  This is the continuation of spinelessness.

Eight in 10 Americans say country is headed in the ‘wrong direction.’ (Think Progress)
A new AP-Ipsos poll finds that nearly eight in 10 Americans believe “the country is moving in the wrong direction…amid soaring food and gas prices, falling home values and unending war. Just 17 percent say the country is going in the right direction.” This figure is the lowest since the survey began in 2003, and when compared with other past surveys, “the general level of pessimism is the worst in almost 30 years.”

Friday: The US Senate Ladies Auxilliary Luncheon (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
The US Senate’s Ladies Auxilliary met on Tuesday to discuss women’s issues.  A luncheon of chicken salad, tea sandwiches (no crusts!) and sparkling lemonade followed the discussion and the event finished with a demonstration on scrapbooking campaign memorabilia. In attendance were Senators Diane Feinstein (CA), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Amy Klobuchar (MN) and Barbara Boxer (CA).  Senator Claire McCaskill, the very junior senator from Missouri called the event to order and represented the Ladies Outreach Volunteers of the Obama campaign.  Senator Hillary Clinton (NY) whose campaign themes were represented at the meeting, was not in attendance. All were in agreement that the topics under consideration were very important to women but no action items were proposed at this time.

Among the issues of greatest importance were, ensuring that women receive equal pay; keeping jobs in America; making healthcare more affordable; providing benefits for military veterans; and protecting the environment.  For the last item, a garden party was proposed for the next event with container gardening as the theme. The subject of abortion was tabled until after the election as some of the ladies felt it was impolite and could be seen as offensive to some constituencies. The group also discussed their plans for Denver and volunteers were recruited to hang the crepe paper bunting.
This is a spoof, of course, but the women of the Senate did meet to discuss promoting issues dear to Hillary’s heart, after having thrown Hillary herself under the bus.

Hillbama (by vastleft at Corrente)

The image above now appears on Obama’s home page. I clicked it with trepidation. And I found good news, bad news, and the “yeah, right” news. The good: It includes a generally gracious (yeah, it’s easy to be gracious once you’ve kneecapped your opponent) speech he gave in Minnesota on 6/3/08, where among other things, he gives a shoutout to Universal Healthcare. Impressively, there’s no booing when he praises Hillary to his supporters (the things you can do with digital technology!). Her commitment to UHC is also praised in text.

The bad: The MN video clip starts with “At this defining moment for our nation, we should be proud that our party put forth one of the most talented, qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office.” Does he really think the qualification card is a strong one for him? Really? I know he had 12 amazing minutes in the Senate before he focused on his presidential run, but still…Finally, at the bottom of the page you’re asked to sign up and “share your story.”… Trust me, you can’t handle the truth. Not that you plan to do anything with the submissions but send vapidtalk e-mails and requests for money. Well, maybe if I posted a “conversion narrative” about my Opiphany, maybe that would get some mileage. But I’ll bet dollars to arugula that no one reads ’em at all. Like a dope, I was kind of hoping to see a little more sense of what Obamanation thinks motivates PUMAs [Party Unity My Ass).

Barack Makes More News Than McCain, But It’s Not All Good (Project for Excellence in Journalism)
In the first official week of the general election, the differences between Barack Obama and John McCain on issues ranging from the economy to Iraq constituted the media’s main campaign narrative.

Two national polls show Obama ahead 47%-42% (On Politics, USA Today)
Both Gallup and Reuters/Zogby say their latest national surveys give Democrat Barack Obama a 47%-42% advantage over Republican John McCain. And both say Obama does not appear to have gotten a big “bounce” since securing the Democratic nomination two weeks ago.

McCain Adviser Repeats False Claim That China Is Drilling For Oil Off The Coast Of Florida (Think Progress)
In recent days, several conservatives, in an attempt to push for expanded oil drilling, have parroted the talking point that China is drilling near Cuba, just off the coast of Florida. In reality, “China is not drilling in Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico waters, period,” as Jorge Piñon, an energy expert at the University of Miami, explained. Nevertheless, as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) calls for lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling, the McCain campaign continues to parrot the false line. On CNBC [Tuesday] night, McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer stated: “When you think about the fact that we’ve got China and Cuba drilling closer to the United States — the coastal United States — when American companies aren’t allowed to drill. It’s just insane.” [Wednesday] afternoon on MSNBC, she made similar comments… Not surprisingly, according to Senate lobbying disclosures, Pfotenhauer previously was a lobbyist for Koch Industries, a major energy company involved in oil exploration.

McCain’s push for offshore drilling could hurt him in Florida (McClatchy)
John McCain’s support for offshore drilling could hurt his prospects in the nation’s largest battleground state, where voters have long favored safeguarding the economically and environmentally precious coastline.

Obama leads in 3 big swing states (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
A new Quinnipiac University poll Wednesday morning shows Democrat Barack Obama leading Republican John McCain in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Obama’s up by 4 in Florida, by 6 in Ohio and by 12 in Pennsylvania–largely because of strong backing from women, blacks and

Obama: NAFTA not so bad after all (Fortune)
WASHINGTON (Fortune) — The general campaign is on, independent voters are up for grabs, and Barack Obama is toning down his populist rhetoric - at least when it comes to free trade. In an interview with Fortune to be featured in the magazine’s upcoming issue, the presumptive Democratic nominee backed off his harshest attacks on the free trade agreement and indicated he didn’t want to unilaterally reopen negotiations on NAFTA. “Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified,” he conceded, after I reminded him that he had called NAFTA “devastating” and “a big mistake,” despite nonpartisan studies concluding that the trade zone has had a mild, positive effect on the U.S. economy.
After all the hatred he ginned up against Hillary Clinton over this issue during the primaries!

Obama, McCain, and Gershon agree: The press needs to get off the stage (by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters)
Two hopeful sparks were visible from the campaign trail last week that suggested there is growing support for the idea of pushing the press off the stage and letting voters get on with the important business of picking the next president… [B]oth campaigns insisted that any citizen-based town hall event had to be open to all television outlets, as well as be seen on the Internet, and not be sponsored or organized by a single news organization. More important, the campaigns stressed that the town hall meeting would not be moderated by the press.The other refreshing forum being proposed for the general election is a Lincoln/Douglas-style event, which would also let the candidates address voters unfiltered and keep journalists on the sidelines, where they belong.

Barack Obama aide: Why Winnie the Pooh should shape US foreign policy (The Telegraph, U.K.)
Winnie the Pooh, Luke Skywalker and British football hooligans could shape the foreign policy of Barack Obama if he becomes US President, according to a key adviser.

Obama Insults Half a Race (by Glen Ford at the Black Agenda Report)
The Black man who wants to be president spends Father’s Day at church in loud and general denunciation of Black males. For added insult, he describes them as “boys.” Barack Obama’s primary audience isn’t the conservative Black Pentecostal congregation, but “white social conservatives in a race where these voters may be up for grabs,” says the New York Times. In America, even the “Black” corporate candidate runs against Black people. How did such madness come to pass in 2008? Blame the Black “progressive” misleaders who failed to challenge Obama when they had the chance. Now it’s too late, and African Americans are reduced to objects of derision.

At Obama’s Former Church, Hurt Lingers (Washington Post)
A vast distance separates Obama from the church he quit last month, as hurt feelings continue to fester on both sides. Obama, his patience exhausted by the most recent controversial remark from a pastor, said in late May, “Our relations with Trinity have been strained.” And some of the church’s 8,000 members — as well as some other black pastors — feel abandoned, betrayed and misunderstood after their contentious turn in the national spotlight. This was not how it was supposed to be. Obama, the biracial presidential candidate who has pledged to unite Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor, blacks and whites, was going to provide an opening for Trinity and other black churches to shatter their stereotypes and bolster their national presence.

Obama holding on to small lead over McCain: poll
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama opens the general election campaign with a narrow lead over Republican John McCain but the two score near even among independent voters, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Al Gore backs Obama, says US needs new vision
DETROIT (Reuters) - Former Vice President Al Gore pledged on Monday to do all he could to help Barack Obama win the White House, saying it was crucial the United States has not only a new leader but a new vision for its future. Gore, one of the most prominent figures in the U.S. Democratic party and known around the world for his push to combat climate change, publicly backed Obama for the first time at a huge rally in Detroit.
I am more disappointed than I can say.  I have lost all respect for Al Gore now that he, too, has given his stamp of approval to the use of Rovian tactics by a Democrat against another Democrat.

Monday: Hoodwinked and Bamboozled (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Have you ever been on the receiving end of some practical joke or confidence scheme? You know, where you’ve been lead on for a good long time only to find everything was a scam and deception from the word go? That’s the way I feel about this past primary season now that the DNC has effectively picked the winner and moved the whole racket to Chicago… I never thought I’d see the day that one democrat would use racist smears against another to get elected. I also never thought I’d see the day that one democrat and the party leaders would blatantly steal like they have this cycle. I just can’t get past this. I would rather see the party die altogether than get away with this. It can’t continue as a viable party if this is let stand.

Cash Cow (by Anglachel
[USA Today:] “[Former Clinton supporter Ed] Rendell, who plans to campaign on Obama’s behalf and raise money for him, said [Monday night’s] event in Philadelphia is a joint fundraiser for Obama and the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee. But in a sign of the urgency to raise campaign cash, Rendell said Obama didn’t want to reschedule tonight’s fundraiser, even though the governor warned him that many Philadelphia donors were headed to the New Jersey shore for the weekend. Rendell said Obama told him: ‘We don’t need the people. We just need the checks.’” And there, in a nutshell, is the Obama campaign. The Cash Cow has replaced the Unity Pony. Who needs people when you can just collect checks?

Obama moves DNC ops to Chicago (by Ben Smith at Politico)
In a major shakeup at the Democratic National Committee — and a departure from tradition — large parts of the committee’s operations are relocating to Chicago to be fully integrated with the Obama campaign. The DNC’s political department, housed in Washington, D.C., will be dramatically rebuilt, with staffers offered a choice of moving to Chicago, joining state operations, or staying in Washington, DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said. But the power will clearly be shifting to a centralized Chicago hub. The DNC’s key role in coordinating political operations with state parties is expected to largely be taken over and overseen by Obama’s senior staff in Chicago, state party officials said.

Hmmm, this is not a good way to achieve Unity (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
[C]omplete and utter takeover of the DNC by the Obama campaign… I’m guessing that “streamlined” means “pared to the bone for cost reasons”. “Consolidate” means “have Obama hire the staff because the DNC can’t pay them”. Is it that Obama has highjacked the DNC or is it that the DNC is forced to go this route because the fundraising machine has dried up over the outrageous treatment of Hillary Clinton? And if it is the latter, how long will it take before it cries “Uncle” and ceases to exist as a party apparatus at all?

NBC/WSJ Poll: Post-primary bump for Obama (NBC News)
Obama leads McCain among registered voters, 47 to 41 percent, which is outside the poll’s margin of error. In the previous NBC/Journal survey, released in late April, Obama was ahead by three points, 46-43 percent… But it also shows plenty of challenges for both Obama and McCain, which all add up right now to what may be a close contest this fall… While Obama appears to be struggling with white men and white suburban women in the poll, McCain has what seem to be even bigger challenges. They include President Bush, whose approval rating stands at 28 percent, as well as an electorate that wants change from the president’s policies.

The Charisma Machine (by Noemie Emery, Weekly Standard—yes, it’s conservative, but that doesn’t mean they can’t see Democrats more clearly, sometimes, than Democrats can see themselves)
Mark Halperin over at Time [is] warning that the Charisma Machine is going to roll right over McCain in November, with the media’s hand on the wheel… [But] Obama peaked on February 19, when he won Wisconsin at the end of his 11-state winning streak, [and] the media’s efforts on his behalf have seemed counter-productive at best. In effect, the full flowering of the media’s intense crush on Barack Obama coincided with the resurgence of Hillary Clinton, and may even have fueled it, as overkill tends to get on one’s nerves… When John Kennedy died, Joseph Alsop wrote that Washington was filled with “male widows,” and that he too was one of them. Obama isn’t president (yet), but he has more than his share of male concubines, who are starting to embarrass themselves (and their readers) with a slavish devotion that is only too evident.

The Unity Carousel (Clyde’s Place)

Democrats Still Struggling With Whole ‘Party Unity’ Thing (by Dana Milbank, Washington Post)
It was billed as a post-primary unity event at Democratic National Committee headquarters [Tuesday]… In their opening remarks, [Howard] Dean, [Nancy] Pelosi and [Harry] Reid mentioned the Republican Party’s candidate by name 17 times, more than they did their own party’s likely nominee… The negative strategy may have something to do with the need to win over the 18 million people who voted for Clinton. They may not have fallen for Obama’s charms during the primary — but perhaps they can be convinced that McCain is the greater evil… Dean [made] a prediction: “I have every confidence we will be united by the fall election.” Against McCain, if not for Obama.
You’re right that it’s not just about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Dr. Dean.  It’s also about the Democratic Party’s total disregard for democracy.  And I hope you don’t bet the farm on your prediction that we’ll all come running home.  Some of us can be wooed, but it will cost you.  BIG time.  So far, I don’t see no flowers.  I don’t see no candy.  I don’t even see no meat and potatoes.

Documentary Proof of RBC’s “Stop Hillary” corruption (by Paul Lukasiak at Corrente)
A document included as an exhibit in the Nelson vs Dean Lawsuit that was filed in October 2007 in an attempt to force the DNC to seat the Florida delegation provides indisputable proof that the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee singled out Florida and Michigan for sanctions, and ignored violations of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina… It is clear that the RBC violated its own rules for political reasons – to stop Hillary Clinton. Without the opportunity to beat Clinton in one of the early states in a meaningful primary or caucus, Clinton’s advantages going into Super- Tuesday would have been impossible to beat. The corrupt officials of the RBC were part of a “stop Hillary” movement, and chose to ignore their own rules in order to make it possible for someone other than Hillary Clinton to get the nomination, and the complete and utter corruption of James Roosevelt, Alexis Herman, Alice Germond and the rest of Obama’s supporters on the RBC is no longer in doubt.
Click through to read Paul’s detailed analysis.

Obama’s “New Politics” Inspired by Rush Limbaugh and Ken Starr (by Edward Olshaker, a longtime journalist whose research on conservative talk radio is cited in The Republican Noise Machine, by David Brock, writing at the History News Network)
In the closing days of the primary season, unity was finally achieved—between the Obama campaign and the most extreme elements of the GOP attack machine, who spoke with a single voice as they eagerly ascribed the darkest imaginable thoughts and motives to Sen. Hillary Clinton simply because she mentioned the murder of Sen. Robert Kennedy… Right-wing columnists gleefully joined in the fun that their strange-bedfellow allies of the left had started…

Before adopting the far-right strategy of ascribing horrific motives to Clinton without a shred of supporting evidence, many Obama supporters, including those in the media, already were in the habit of blindly accepting and repeating other conservative attack points such as labeling Clinton “polarizing”—without specifying polarizing statements or policies; and “power-hungry”—although every other presidential candidate obviously had an identical hunger for power…

Remarkably, had the race been closer, the Obama team was preparing to reach into the past and revive the ultimate right-wing line of attack. As Jonathan Weisman reported in the Washington Post on April 23, “a Democratic strategist familiar with the Obama campaign” said the campaign was likely to raise old issues including “Whitewater and possibly impeachment… How much time and money were Obama’s aides prepared to devote in an effort to succeed where the Whitewater independent counsels had failed? As for the report of the Obama team preparing to bring up impeachment, when was Sen. Clinton ever impeached? “Audacity” might be a fitting word after all, but how exactly is this “breaking free from the politics of the past”?

Electoral Map Could Be Similar to 2000, 2004 (Political Wire)
Despite suggestions that there will be different swing states this year, Stuart Rothenberg says “don’t expect the 2008 presidential map to look wildly different from those of 2000 and 2004. Barring a full-scale McCain meltdown or the public’s wholesale rejection of the GOP (neither of which can be ruled out), only a handful of states are prime candidates to swing from their traditional partisan bent in recent presidential elections. Increased turnout by black and young voters could improve Obama’s showings in some states, as could his appeal among upscale whites. But those gains aren’t likely to be large enough to flip many states, and so far there is no evidence that red states in the Deep South are potentially winnable for Obama because of their large black population.”

Clinton Asks Pledged Delegates To Support Obama (by Mark Ambinder, The Atlantic)
Multiple Democratic sources say that Sen. Hillary Clinton, in a series of private conversations and conference calls, continues to urge her pledged delegates to vote for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Clinton plans a series of calls with superdelegates, interest groups and state delegations over the next few days. (One of them took place last night, according to this report from Iowa’s Quad Cities-Globe-Gazette.)… A Clinton spokesman said that Clinton is not technically releasing her delegates — doing so would cause many of them to be dropped from the slate — but noted that both Bill Bradley and Howard Dean did not formally release their slates until their conventions.  [Emphasis added.]

Ambition-Crazed Harpy Who Will Stop at Nothing to Get the Democratic Nomination, Even If It Means Destroying the Democratic Party. Or Not. (by Melissa McEwan at Shakesville)
How many times during the primary did we hear that Hillary Clinton was so self-absorbed, so drunk with ambition, so mad with the need for power that she would do anything—anything!!!11!—to get the Democratic nomination? How many times did we hear that from ostensible progressives… Do you think any of the people who went on and on about what a reckless, power-questing, narcissistic, voraciously and dangerously selfish person she is are even the slightest bit ashamed of themselves? Or just fucking embarrassed for being so wrong? Me, neither.

“There never is a ship fights well except it be a happy ship.” (by lambert at Corrente)
And that, my friends, is why the beatings will continue until morale improves.

“If 795 of my collegues decide this election, I will quit the Democratic Party.” (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)
Those are the words of superdelegate and Party honcho, Donna Brazile … [on] February 11, 2008, a few days after Super Tuesday… Um….Donna? Hello? What happened? I don’t see you following through on your vow to resign as a superdelegate if the supers decided the nominee. Are you just waiting until the Convention to resign with a flourish? Or have you somehow forgotten how very “strongly” you felt about “the people” and “the voters” choosing the candidate. How could you, the chairman of the Voter Rights Institute, countenance the kangaroo court that took place at the RBC meeting on May 31? Since Hillary Clinton received more popular votes than the presumtuous nominee (thanks to DNC shenanigans), Barack Obama, why haven’t you resigned in disgust?
Click through for contact information to ask Donna yourself.

What’s Up Hillary’s Sleeve (by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
Why won’t Hillary just concede that she has lost and pull out of the race? Why does she persist in keeping her delegates in line for her and not releasing them to Obama? Why does she feign party unity while, in fact, undermining it? The Clintons never do anything without a lot of thinking and planning. There is no benign explanation for her maneuvers. They have several options that they are deliberately keeping open by their increasingly awkward positioning. Here’s what they’re up to:
1. The Obama Stumbles Option
2. Hillary for VP
3. The I Told You So Option
4. Paying Off Her Debts
Dick Morris is a Clinton hater of the first order.  Nevertheless, this article is probably correct.  Not only that, it’s exactly what I would do, and what I HOPE Clinton is doing, except for the VP part. Clinton haters will call it evil, but I call it smart.

Will Clinton Take Blame for Obama Loss? (Political Wire)
The Politico asks an interesting question: “Will supporters of Sen. Barack Obama blame Sen. Hillary Clinton if Obama loses in November?”
Oh, gosh, I wonder.

Matt Davies (Matt has a great retrospective slideshow of his cartoons on the 2008 Democratic primary)

Obama Meets Clinton at Feinstein’s House (by Taylor Marsh)
According to The New York Times, Senator Feinstein was asked if she heard “shouting.” Seriously? Where do they get these reporters?

Before the speech: ‘Everyone’s going to be monitoring every syllable.’ (by Lori Price at Citizens for Legitimate Government)
MSNBC’s GOP foot-soldier (and Coup 2000 palliator) Timmy Russert, speculating on whether Hillary Clinton will surrender hard enough.
Remember when Bill Clinton could never apologize enough?  I had a really bad case of déjà vu on Saturday.

Clinton Democrats (by Anglachel)
Hillary gave a brilliant, powerful, astute and compelling speech [Saturday]. It was not actually a concession speech, though that was part of the mix. It was a challenge to the media, the corrupt and co-opted blogosphere, to the petty backstabbers of the DNC, and, yes, to every rank-and-file Democrat, no matter who they supported in the primary. What we watched [Saturday] was Hillary laying out, in pitch-perfect detail, a vision of the Democratic Party that justifies its reason to exist, identifies the people it must represent, and outlines the conditions under which it may legitimately hold power. Those who hold to this vision are Clinton Democrats.
Click here to read a transcript of Hillary’s speech on Saturday.

A Great Speech (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Hillary Clinton did something that is very difficult in my opinion, she made a great speech out of a concession endorsement speech. Why? Because she conceded nothing on the issues nor in any way discounted what she and her supporters accomplished. And then she endorsed him, but the endorsement was not the standard stump endorsement. It was an intelligent, rational, respectful argument to her supporters for why she was endorsing Barack Obama. she would speak to the issues and punctuate her line with “and that is why we must elect Barack Obama President.”

Let the Healing Begin (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

Vote by Numbers (by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist)
IT appears that Hillary Clinton is going to suspend her presidential campaign this weekend, at the urging of Democratic Party leaders and superdelegates. Before that happens, Mrs. Clinton and the superdelegates might want to know this: if the general election were held today, Barack Obama would lose to John McCain, while Mr. McCain would lose to Mrs. Clinton. This conclusion comes not from wishful thinking but from a new method of analysis on the statistics of polls that has been accepted for publication in the journal Mathematical and Computer Modeling…

If the general election were held today, Mr. Obama would win 252 electoral votes as the Democratic nominee, while Mrs. Clinton would win 295. In other words, Barack Obama is losing to John McCain, and Hillary Clinton is beating him. This analysis does not predict what will happen in November. But it describes the present better than any other known method does.

Two questions arise in the face of this result. Whom should the Republican candidate prefer to run against to maximize his party’s chances of retaining the White House? And what does it say of the Democratic delegate selection system when its winner would lose the presidency if an election were held today, yet its loser would win it?

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW, FRIENDS, I have come to the reluctant conclusion that the Democratic Party leadership doesn’t really care about winning the presidency in November to pave the way for progressive legislation, they only care about the big bucks they think Obama can bring them.  That makes them as corrupt as the Republicans.  I can no longer support the Democratic Party as a whole, but I can’t support the Republican Party, either.  I will continue to inform all who are disillusioned like me of what their options are—joining factions within the Democratic Party that are about promoting a populist agenda rather than just a brand, becoming independent, joining third parties, and even joining factions within the Republican Party.  That is each individual’s choice.

Like it or lump it, that is what I’ll be doing.