Sun, 18 May 2008 10:00:04 -0400
Insightful essay by Cokie Roberts (not a favorite of mine or noquarter) printed in a Jewish publication.
Good essay at her site below the "Unity Wheel."
They may be ready to make nice, but I'm not.
Rival Camps Plan Inevitable Merger
/snip/
Mark Aronchick, a Philadelphia lawyer who has raised more than $1 million for Clinton's bid, said that while her supporters have not given up on their candidate, they recognize the need to start preparing for the general election.
"Only if we do this right, and see this through in the right way, will there be a chance for a full, rapid and largely complete unification of the party," Aronchick said.
Aronchick was one of about 35 Clinton and Obama insiders who attended a dinner last week in Washington aimed at what he characterized as helping the two sides "grope towards unity."
/snip/
From the same article: In addition to the fledgling attempts to merge the fundraising operations of Obama and Clinton, there is growing talk that the best -- and perhaps only -- way to truly mend the rift is for Obama to pick a top Clinton surrogate as his vice presidential nominee. "There's gale-force pressure for Obama to choose a Clinton loyalist as a running mate to heal the party but avoid putting her and her formidable baggage on the ticket," said one Obama ally in Washington. "You hear the names [Ohio Gov. Ted] Strickland, [Indiana Sen. Evan] Bayh, and [retired general] Wes Clark almost constantly, and it's no secret that Jim Johnson and Tom Daschle are purveyors of that wisdom." "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" - Whoever said it, it's true.
Obama/Clark 08! or Clinton/Clark 08! Yes it can happen (at least, I'm hoping).
Daschle could not have been a bigger detractor and I would say outright enemy of Hillary during this race, screw him.
so I will assume you are correct. Throw the message out with the nessenger?
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" - Whoever said it, it's true.
He ardently campaigned against her and for Obama. Arguing against her experience and progating negatives regarding statement from Bill on the campaign trail.
well, I've been a life-long democrat and I'll support O if he's the nominee? WHY? Aren't people tired of the shennanigans emanating from the WH? Do they think O will be any different? He's already shown he's basically Chimpy-lite. Don't understand how making him the nom and supporting him will erase the stain of his past associations - and if you ever want politics to be cleaned up, this is the time to send him back to his ward in Chicago. The only difference is if he is in there is that a huge % of the our tax $$ will be heading to his crooked friends in Chicago instead of the power elite in D.C. and east coast. Sorry, you can't change a leopard's spots.
I'm sick and tired of sending known associates of crime families to the WH. Once that place used to be sort of hallowed ground. Duty, Honor, Country and all that stuff. Now it's just ground for handing out money to friends.
We're electing the President of the United States, not some g.d. prom king.
They’re not the people I’m running to be a champion for. I’m running to be a champion for you and your children and your grandchildren.
Hillary Clinton
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.
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Doesn't this simply leave one speechless?
Not sure if this was from today or last Sunday- must have been today.
McLaughlin asks the relevant piercing questions.
on Fridays here. 8:30pm. I like to watch that show but
I always forget it's on. :(
This was prolly on this past Friday. (I forgot to watch, again).
get it. Yes, he's won more delegates, but it's a skewed system when winning small caucus states rewards more delegates than winning big primary states. I'm glad someone is pointing out the ridiculousness of it all. But will the superd's listen, or are they so concerned with alienating the AA and youth votes, they'll go by the RULZ and select the weaker candidate? (And Hillary did win the youth vote in WV, and I think a couple other states, we well.)
This video shows clearly, and Pat Buchanan points out, that the Democratic system for electing delegates (i.e. THE RULZ) is the only reason O! can claim any advantage. If the Repub rules (which are much more logical) applied, he'd have been out after PA.
Buchanan is convinced Hillary will lead in popular vote by the end of the primaries. I believe he is correct.
thanks for posting, Bluemoon.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
we'd be running against huckabee or ron paul...
interesting video. guess it's pretty clear how Newsweek feels about O! Must be nice to have such a strong defense team working on the cables and the publishers for you. Day and night. Around the clock. And ya still can't take the big and swing states with ALL of that??!!! What do you need? With all that MONEY, all that PRESS pushing you, all that constant bashing of the Clintons and you still can't get those votes...
troubling.
Senator Ted Kennedy Recovering In Hospital After Seizure
that he has got the best health care coverage in the world; Congress/Senate/Fed employees USA
Senators $35.00 premiums a month; no deductable with unlimited services; ( I will fact check the deductable again doing this from memory )
http://www.standtallforamerica.com/content/health_care_reform
Senator Ron Wyden
The Healthy Americans Act would guarantee every American universal, affordable, comprehensive, portable, high-quality, private health coverage that is as good or better than Members of Congress have today.
The Act includes tough cost containment measures - and would save Americans $1.45 trillion over the next decade.
Congressman Conyers said the following: "if I had to select only one bill to pass this year it would be HR 676!"
http://www.healthcare-now.org/resources/hr676.htm
http://www.onecarenow.org/sb840.htm
The statewide OneCareNow grass roots campaign is devoted to educating Californians and building massive support for Senate Bill 840, titled "The California Universal Healthcare Act", authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl.
On August 28, 2006 SB 840 passed both houses of the California legislature in a historic vote affirming the right of Californians to quality, affordable health insurance. On September 22, 2006 after taking $4 million from the insurance industry, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 840 on the grounds that "healthcare is not a right."
More than 300 million living Americans will never be president.
(This is for you ms in la!)
I was talking to hubby about what to have for dinner, and I uttered the words, "Do you want chicken or fish?" LOLOL!!!!
And I was serious! I cracked up! Now I'm trying to hide from the men in the white suits. ;)
http://therealmccain.com/?utm_source=rgemail
More than 300 million living Americans will never be president.
has her own blog, and has been on the ground in Oregon. Links to videos of local news coverage, etc.
Check it out!
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
by digby
I'm curious as to what you might think about this (NYT):
While much of the Congressional political focus has been on the declining fortunes and numbers of House Republicans, House Democrats have their own problem – they are winning too many elections.
.
By prevailing in conservative locales where they ordinarily would not have a chance, Democrats are widening the ideological divide in their own ranks and complicating their ability to find internal consensus.This will be an interesting challenge. In the blogosphere we've been in the business of trying to elect more and better Democrats, by which we mean progressive. This raises the question: is more, without the better, a good idea?
The article asserts that the Democrats need to win much more in order to have a real working majority and there may be a chance this year to do it. But it still presents an interesting conundrum. What if you end up with a bigger majority of people with (D) after their names, but most of the new ones are conservative? It's not an unexpected outcome in a country that has, until recently, been very evenly divided.
The Republicans kept their "moderates" on a very short chain and consciously governed with as few cross over votes as possible (Amazon.com) in order to keep the other side frustrated and the caucus "pure." They got things done for a while, and protected their president with the loyalty of feral pit bulls, but ended up destroying themselves.
On the other hand, if the Democratic "moderates," the Blue Dogs, become the deciding factor in legislation, the change we will see will be incremental at best. Having the majority means that the most heinous right wing legislation never sees the light of day, so that's worth it, no matter what. But it's going to be very difficult to enact sweeping changes in policy unless these new Representatives are running explicitly on that agenda. Otherwise, they may very well vote with the Republicans, even if their president can raise lots of money for them. Money can't guarantee that Democrats in conservative districts can win.
I'm a big believer in padding the progressive caucus, so a new group of conservative Democrats seems like a mixed bag to me(although it's great to see Republicans reeling.) But it's happening and it is something for which we should prepare ourselves.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
We've already had this problem - back before the latest Republican dictatorship: too many conservative Democrats, especially in the House. Texas lost a lot of conservative D.'s when we were redistricted, and although we lost the leadership, at least those guys are gone. They always voted with the R's on most things. People running for seats now are nearly always more liberal than those guys, although there are some still a mite conservative running.
That's where I'm putting my own personal campaign efforts next, especially if Hillary doesn't win the primary; working to get good U.S. House Democrats, and a replacement for Cornyn.
why General Clark says there is no room for a third party. The Democratic Party, over the years, has been watered down with so many conservative Dems that it really is nothing more than Repub light. And the Repub Party has been taken over with the more radical element of that party, so that they have moved so far right, center is now right, and left is more center. We really do need a progressive left-leaning Party. I realize and understand it will take time to build and grow, but dayum it's got to start somewhere!
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
if not (except for dictatorships, of course) the ONLY one that still has a two-party system (I'm not a historian and right now I'm too tired to search for it, so forgive me if I'm wrong--you know what I'm trying to get at!). I like the European system, such as that in the Netherlands, where there are many, many parties that form various coalitions, depending on the policy being debated. That way you really can vote for the party that represents you completely, not just sometimes, or kinda sorta!
Is that the more extremist small parties too frequently end up calling the shots, because the major parties need them to keep their coalitions together.
I don't think there will be a third party as long as we have an electoral college. If we can get rid of that, or render it irrelevant, there could be a chance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_YCcptDUs&feature=user
Denver Dialog City
As part of its hosting of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Denver will also host 10 major digital artists from around the world.
More than 300 million living Americans will never be president.
From today: The World Economic Forum on the Middle East.
Don't know the location but I'll bet Wes is there!
Kentucky (ARG)
Clinton: 65%
Obama : 29%
Undecided: 2%
Oregon (ARG)
Clinton: 45%
Obama: 55%
Undecided: 5%
Puerto Rico (Research&Research)
Clinton: 50%
Obama: 37%
Undecided: 13%
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
SEVERAL BIG VOTING RIGHTS VICTORIES ON FRIDAY!'We the People' Win, as Thor Hearne's MO Voter Suppression Attempt Fails; von Spakovsky Withdraws FEC Nomination; TN to Require Paper Ballots; AZ Agrees to Follow Law, Perform Voter Registration at Public Facilities...<!-- Print the time the article was posted --><!-- The article content --><!-- -->
In case you missed it, tremendous news for democracy lovers everywhere late yesterday, as the week ended up being a very good one for the voters, for a change...
- In Missouri, GOP vote-suppressor Thor Hearne lost one, and the voters won one for a change, as the attempt by Republican legislators in the state house to pass a Constitutional amendment requiring Photo ID restrictions and proof of citizenship sure to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of legal, registered voters went down in flames on the last day of the legislative session.
On the federal level, GOP voter-fraud zealot Hans von Spakovsky (cue evil music), finally withdrew his nomination to the FEC, which had been blocked by Sens. Obama and Feingold. The standoff had kept the FEC from have the required quorum of commissioners needed to do business in a crucial election year. With vS out of the way, perhaps a responsible, pro-voter set of commissioners can now take their place. But we'll see. Rick Hasen has the outlook. Either way, it's another very big victory.
In Tennessee, both houses have approved a bill to require a paper ballot for every vote cast! The bill has to go back to conference to work out one last point, but given its extraordinary success in both houses (it passed unanimously this week in the state Senate!) it's likely to be enacted quickly. This is a huge win for the tireless Election Integrity citizen heroes on the ground in TN, and a loss for the pro-machine, pro-invisible/unverifiable ballot crowd there, including Davidson County's Republican Election Commissioner Lynn Greer, who once told me, after I attended a meeting there, that "paper is the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on this country." Apparently he was serious. The good news: the responsible folks in the state disagree with him. The bad news: the requirement for paper ballots won't take effect until 2010. But we'll take what we can get!
Finally, in Arizona, as Steve Rosenfeld, as one of my guests yesterday while I was guest hosting The Peter B. Collins Show told us, the DoJ has finally settled a lawsuit against the state where Sec. of State Jan Brewer, who once called Election Integrity advocates "anarchists" and "conspiracy theorists" has been doing everything she could, for years, to keep legitimate voters from being able to properly cast their ballots and have them counted accurately. The state has now finally agreed to follow the law (National Voter Registration Act of 1993, known as the NVRA or the "Motor Voter Bill") by performing voter registration services at public assistance facilities such as welfare clinics.
We spoke about most of the breaking good news above last night on the PBC Show (audio archive here), and will try, for the next few hours at least, to enjoy some of the great news, for a change, on several fronts in the continuing Republican War on Voting.
More than 300 million living Americans will never be president.
...
Do you want hear Donald Rumsfeld telling a roomful of ex-brass now serving as Bush moles in the media that the only "correction" for the American people's "immaturity" -- exemplified by their giving control of Congress to the Democrats in 2006 -- is another terrorist attack on American soil? Then go to this site (via A Tiny Revolution), where, through the magic of audio, you can sit down with Rummy and the shills for a cozy, boozy lunch and settle the world's hash. There you can hear Rummy ruminate -- in his preppy whine -- on how some good old terrorist carnage would get everyone "energized" again for the sacred War on Terror.
.
Here of course Rumsfeld is merely regurgitating his long-held position on the efficacy of terror as a facilitator of one's political agenda. After all, he was one of the prime movers of the Project for a New American Century, which famously declared -- in September 2000 -- that PNAC's ambitious and aggresive plans for expanding American military dominance across the world would probably never be enacted -- unless the nation was hit by "a new Pearl Harbor" which would "catalyze" the American people into supporting the militarist agenda. And lo and behold, just one year later, the militarists got their new Pearl Harbor -- and immediately enacted almost the entire agenda laid out in PNAC's 2000 blueprint! Some people are just lucky, I guess.
.
But now they've just about run through the windfall of political capital they got from that amazingly incredible piece of luck, and are now openly yearning for that "energizing" lightning to strike again. Gosh, could they really be that lucky?
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
When you think you're right, you don't stop. I still wonder if we're really going to have this election.
I read somewhere (maybe right here) that PNAC's web site is kaput. I'm sure they are morphing into something just as destructive.
(You know you've been on line too long when you can remember where you were yesterday.)
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/
"
The three remaining major presidential candidates -- all Senate colleagues of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts -- issued statements today on Kennedy's hospitalization this morning for reported seizures.
Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, who worked with McCain on an immigration reform bill that never came to fruition, issued the following statement:
"I was very sorry to hear that Senator Kennedy has taken ill, and like millions of Americans, Cindy and I anxiously await word of his condition. Senator Kennedy's role in the U.S. Senate cannot be overstated. He is a legendary lawmaker, and I have the highest respect for him. When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner. I consider it a great privilege to call him my friend. Cindy and I are praying for our friend, his wife, Vicki and the Kennedy family."
Senator Hillary Clinton issued a statement: “My thoughts and prayers are with Sen. Ted Kennedy and his family today. We all wish him well and a quick recovery.”
Senator Barack Obama, campaigning today in Eugene, Ore., told reporters: "Ted Kennedy is a giant in American political history. He's done more for health care than just about anybody in history. We are going to be rooting for him. I insist on being optimistic about how it's going to turn out."
John F. Kerry, the junior senator from Massachusetts and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, visited Kennedy at Mass General Hospital today and issued the following statement:
"Ted Kennedy is beloved and respected on both sides of the aisle in the Senate in which he's been a giant for close to half a century, a legend in Massachusetts, and a dear friend to me and Teresa. ... Teresa and I are praying for Teddy, Vicki and all of his family and we know that everyone in Massachusetts and people throughout the nation pray for a full and speedy recovery for a man whose life's work has touched millions upon millions of lives." "