In a first, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann will deliver one of his Special Comments on the campaign of Hillary Clinton tomorrow during his program "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." His show airs at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST and the Special Comment is usually either in the middle or at the end of the show.
Olbermann, one of the most popular liberal commentators in the nation, has been increasingly critical of Clinton's campaign tactics as of late.
Apparently this rule is nullified when your wife is running for president.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGW38Zy4bJo
A month ago, I predicted Hillary Clinton's "Dean scream" moment was when she teared up in New Hampshire a day before the primary. I thought it was the moment that was going to kill her campaign, and I was wrong.
But something happened today that many besides myself (even on sites like The Daily Kos) are saying is the final nail in the coffin of her flagging campaign.
Having lost the last eleven primaries (by bigger and bigger margins each time), behind by 150 delegates, enduring monetary problems and losing Superdelegate endorsements faster than you can say "inevitability," she has chosen to go out with guns a-blazin'.
In a press conference in Ohio today (flanked by state Governor Ted Strickland bobbing his head incessantly like an overzealous scenery-chewing extra), Hillary went into full meltdown mode over an Obama campaign flier that not only has completely accurate information about her support of NAFTA and plans to impose fines for those who don't buy health insurance but is also a month old by this point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjY9XlSa34w
This video begins with her shining media moment from Thursday night's debate and provides a telling contrast.
Hillary has a way of demonstrating fake outrage when things aren't in her favor. Three weeks ago, when MSNBC's correspondent David Shuster claimed Chelsea Clinton was being "weirdly pimped out" for campaign rallies and such, most people of my generation barely batted an eyelash because we know the word "pimp" doesn't mean what it used to. (i.e. MTV's "Pimp My Ride" and such.) But Hillary's camp went nuclear and Shuster was not only forced to apologize on air (twice) but was suspended for two weeks.
People here are all intelligent and can make their own judgments about these events. I can only speak for myself when I say this kind of bipolar behavior is not what I'd want to see from someone who would potentially have, say, access to nuclear weapons.
I preface this by saying the following:
The race is not over! Continue to make phone calls. Continue to donate. Encourage your friends and family to vote for Barack Obama. Do not rest on your laurels! Continue to do everything you can!!!
Now then...in the following video, MSNBC's Chuck Todd explains why a Hillary Clinton victory is virtually mathematically impossible from here on out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0pGuRMEy36k
"When you realize that Barack Obama is still going to win some primaries between March 4th and the end of the primary season, then you look at the places that she's planning on winning, she's got to win big. She's got to win with over 60% in all of these remaining races."
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!! AND DON'T FORGET TO DONATE!
Five Dollars Can Change the World
We are asking you to donate $5.01 to the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. Today, Senator Obama's opponent for the Democratic nomination and her husband, gave five million dollars to their own cause. Being normal people, who aren't running, we were unable to give nearly that much money to Senator Obama ourselves as it is against the law. Matching such a sum is something few among us could do alone, and yet together we can.
Why Five Dollars and One Cent?
$5 is the smallest amount that one can give to the campaign via their website, and with these donations we want to say: we are many, we are powerful, and we will be heard. The one cent is an netroots tradition which allows us to count how many of these donations are received. It will take a million donations to match the Clintons, imagine that.
DONATE
We would like you to give this gift in honor of the 199th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln on February 12, 2008 . Mr. Lincoln, who graces our five dollar bill and our penny, was another Senator from the state of Illinois who became President. In his time he was, like Senator Obama, known as a wonderful orator, whose words were able to move this nation forward despite seemingly insurmountable odds. Our sixteenth President, along with a chorus of abolitionists, fought for and won the abolition of the evil of slavery and the beginnings of a new nation on this continent. It is a nation, our nation, which is now poised on the cusp of history. We stand ready to nominate and elect the son of a Kenyan immigrant and a woman from rural Kansas to be the next President of the United States of America. It will be an achievement which will send echoes through history for the next 199 years.
Eleven score and twelve years ago our forebears brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal.
In spite of this fundamental equality upon which our nation was founded, our times have seen a growing gap between rich and poor. There are those of us who have and those who have not. There are those among us for whom what we ask is much, and those among us for whom it is little. If you can give please join our chorus. Please pass this along and ask others to join us too. Only by singing together will our voices be heard.
Yes we can.
We must be the change we want to see in our politics.
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!
Two very interesting stories here about why things are boding well for our man Obama.
Five Reasons Why Hillary Should Be Worried:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8363.html
Why Obama Has The Upper Hand:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/6/123959/6127
Chuck Todd of MSNBC did some very detailed analysis of the delegate counts for today's Super Tuesday Democratic primary. He surmised that the delegate total coming out of Super Tuesday will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 841 for Obama, 837 for Clinton. (A candidate needs 2025 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.)
So basically we have another draw on our hands. This is far from over!
PLEASE SHARE AND REPOST THIS!!
Obama has finally pulled ahead of Clinton here in Califronia, according to a new Reuters/CSPAN/Zogby poll:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080203/pl_nm/usa_politics_poll_dc_1;_ylt=ApyFNiP0T662p1VeGEXWOGcE1vAI
YES, WE CAN!
I signed up for text message alerts about Obama appearances and have been keeping an eye on a CNN page that is supposed to show events, but I missed seeing Obama this morning in Los Angeles! I didn't hear anything about it!
Is there a way to keep on top of these appearances before they happen? I really want to attend another Obama event!
Wow. Lots of news today.
Front page of the New York Times has a story about a potentially huge bombshell for the Clinton campaign:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
There's also a piece in the The New York Daily News saying that Senator Edwards' inner circle is strongly urging him to endorse Obama. Yesterday morning, on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough was talking to Edwards' senior advisor who said he would do "everything in his power" to prevent Edwards from endorsing Clinton.I also read that Edwards' campaign strategist Joe Trippi was Howard Dean's strategist four years ago...and with Clinton warring with Dean right now over the disenfranchised voters in Michigan and Florida, that would give Trippi all the more reason to convince Edwards not to endorse Clinton.I'm hearing chatter that Governor Richardson could be endorsing Obama on Friday. Richardson has pledged he'd make an endorsement by the end of this week, and the Obama camp just scheduled two events in New Mexico (where Richardson is Governor) on Friday.But here's the biggest piece of potential news...and I stress that it is unconfirmed: a blogger at the Daily Kos website claims that it is "his understanding" that Al Gore will be endorsing Obama in California today. The plan is for the endorsement to dominate the news cycle following the debate. Again, I stress that's unconfirmed as of yet. It would make perfect sense, though, given the acrimony between Gore and the Clintons in the past and with the final pre-Super Tuesday debate being tonight. The following blog has some interesting excerpts from The Washington Post that also hint towards a possible Gore endorsement:http://richmonddemocrat.blogspot.com/2008/01/now-is-gores-moment-to-endorse-obama.htmlObama is now only three points behind Clinton here in California. Endorsements by the Kennedys, Al Gore, Bill Richardson and John Edwards in the days before Super Tuesday could be enough to put him over the edge...not just here in California, but all over the country.
EDIT: Former president Jimmy Carter has praised Barack Obama, although he has not given a formal endorsement yet:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080130/ts_alt_afp/usvote2008democratscarter
Just announced on MSNBC.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080130/ap_on_el_pr/edwards
This race just got even more interesting. Any predictions?
I would assume most of his voters will break for Obama...but if this race has taught me anything, it's to expect the unexpected.
Please read the following brief article from the National Review website. If you are outraged by the Clinton campaign's behavior on this matter, please FOLLOW THIS LINK and SIGN THE PETITION!
I can't believe I'm writing this, but the Democratic nomination may come down to whether or not the delegates from Michigan and Florida are seated at the national convention.
According to CNN, right now Hillary's ahead in the delegate count, 230 to to 152. The winner needs 2,025. But Hillary's lead is almost entirely already-committed superdelegates, as the contests so far have been all near-ties in terms of delegates: Both she and Obama got 18 out of Iowa, CNN gives Obama one more delegate out of New Hampshire (a sort-of explanation here), they split Nevada 14 each, and Obama won South Carolina's, 26 to 14.
Looking forward, 370 out of the 441 delegates in California are awarded proportionally. In New York, 151 out of 281 are awarded proportionally, so Obama could walk away with (if current polls are accurate) about 45 delegates from Hillary's home state. Similarly, she could get about 22 percent of Illinois' 153 delegates, about 33 delegates.
States on the Democrat side are proportional. And it's easy to see a lot of 50some percent to 40some percent finishes, with John Edwards perhaps not hitting that 15 percent threshold to collect any delegates. But Edwards still has a decent pile (58 delegates) and should hit the 15 percent threshold in his at least his most friendly states (North Carolina). With Ted Kennedy and Kathleen Sebelius endorsing Obama, Hillary's edge in superdelegates could and in fact should start balancing out; it's not like there's one clear establishment choice and one clear outsider choice anymore.
While it's possible we could see a big sweep on Super Tuesday and beyond, it's more likely that Hillary will win some, Obama will win some, and because of proportional delegate rules, neither one builds up a big lead in the delegate race.
If both Hillary and Obama are short of the majority necessary, there will be 156 delegates from Michigan and 210 delegates from Florida, most of which will be for Hillary, sitting on the sidelines. The Clintons will fight tooth and nail to get those into the count.
Under that scenario, the Obama camp and their supporters will be able to legitimately charge that yes, they did have the nomination stolen from them. The DNC ruled that those states forfeited their delegates by holding their primary before February 5. Obama wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan. He followed the rules; what he didn't realize was that the Clintons would get the rules changed.
[Source: http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com]
Ah, the irony...
Morrison endorses Obama for president
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The woman who famously labeled Bill Clinton as the "first black president" is backing Barack Obama to be the second.
Author Toni Morrison said her endorsement of the Democratic presidential candidate has little to do with Obama's race — he is the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas — but rather his personal gifts.
Writing with the touch of a poet in a letter to the Illinois senator, Morrison explained why she chose Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton for her first public presidential endorsement.
Morrison, whose acclaimed novels usually concentrate of the lives of black women, said she has admired Clinton for years because of her knowledge and mastery of politics, but then dismissed that experience in favor of Obama's vision.
"In addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates," Morrison wrote. "That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it.
"Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace — that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom," Morrison wrote.
In 1998, Morrison wrote a column for the New Yorker magazine in which she wrote of Bill Clinton: "White skin notwithstanding, this is our first black president. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children's lifetime. After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas."
Obama responded to Morrison's endorsement with a written statement: "Toni Morrison has touched a nation with the grace and beauty of her words, and I was deeply moved and honored by the letter she wrote and the support she is giving our campaign."
[Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080128/ap_on_el_pr/obama_morrison_1]
I think the media and others have gone slightly overboard with some of their allegations of racism/race-baiting on the part of the Clintons, but here is a solid example of former president Bill Clinton blatantly trying to inject race into the campaign.
The reporter's question had absolutely nothing to do with Rev. Jesse Jackson. So why would Clinton mention him?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qqd2dfjl2pw
Wow. This is huge, folks. Two Kennedy endorsements in as many days.
Here's Mark Halperin of Time magazine's reasons why the Kennedy endorsement will have a very positive impact for Obama:
While endorsements don’t usually matter much, Edward Kennedy’s does because:
1. He has a huge following with Hispanics, a big deal in California and other Super Tuesday states, and one of Obama’s weaknesses.
2. The symbolic Kennedy family thing — the ultimate message of change, viability, Democratic legitimacy, and youthful excitement.
3. The national press will be obsessed with the story for days and days to come, with no downside for Obama; the local press coverage when Kennedy travels for Obama will be ginormous.
4. It sends a message to other senators and superdelegates that it is OK to be for Obama — they don’t have to be afraid of the Clintons.
5. He has a huge following among working-class, traditional Democrats, one of Obama’s weaknesses.
6. He has a huge following among union households, another of Obama’s weaknesses.
[Source: http://thepage.time.com/halperins-take-five-reasons-why-the-kennedy-endorsement-is-a-big-deal/]
On the January 25th episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher," CNN's Amy Holmes asked six African American women at a hair salon in Los Angeles for their opinions of Obama. Afterward, Bill Maher and his panel (Richard Belzer, Herbie Hancock and Martha Raddatz) discussed Obama.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fhEWXn4jKzc
A President Like My Father
By CAROLINE KENNEDYPublished: January 27, 2008For The New York Times
OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960.
Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates’ goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.
Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.
I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.
Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.
I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.
I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.
Caroline Kennedy is the author of “A Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love.”
[Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin]
...but 0 precincts have reported.
I don't understand this.
