ABC News' Karen Travers Reports: For the first time this campaign season, Barack Obama has surpassed Hillary Clinton's support among superdelegates, according to the ABC News delegate estimate.
Sen. Obama, D-Ill., picked up two superdelegates this morning giving him a new metric to tout in addition to his current commanding leads in pledged delegates, popular votes, states won, and money raised.
Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., switched his endorsement from Clinton to Obama and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., endorsed Obama. DeFazio was previously uncommitted.
With these endorsements, Obama has the support of 267 superdelegates and Clinton has 265 superdelegates.
Clinton Advisor: Indianans "Shit" "Worthless White N*rs"
UPDATE: Part of this video, according to filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, has been doctored. See the original here. Still, where the racial slur seems to be a fraud, Kantor does in fact refer to Indianans as "shit."
Further Proof The GOP Wants Hillary To Be The Nominee
We've said it before and we'll say it again: no one will mobilize the Republican base like Hillary Clinton. That's why the GOP is preparing to run ads like this:
UPDATE: The queen of sleaze gets sleazier by claiming she's won the popular vote thus far. We can only hope Howard Dean will do his job and start calling her on her bullshit.
At least their editorial page did. While many in the media spin her "enormous" victory in PA, most strangely fail to mention that Obama (according to many polls) actually moved up ten points in the state, despite Team Hillary's GOP fear-mongering tactics. From NY Times
The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.
Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.
If nothing else, self interest should push her in that direction. Mrs. Clinton did not get the big win in Pennsylvania that she needed to challenge the calculus of the Democratic race. It is true that Senator Barack Obama outspent her 2-to-1. But Mrs. Clinton and her advisers should mainly blame themselves, because, as the political operatives say, they went heavily negative and ended up squandering a good part of what was once a 20-point lead.
On the eve of this crucial primary, Mrs. Clinton became the first Democratic candidate to wave the bloody shirt of 9/11. A Clinton television ad -- torn right from Karl Rove’s playbook -- evoked the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, the cold war and the 9/11 attacks, complete with video of Osama bin Laden. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” the narrator intoned.
Still, a lot of Pennsylvanians voted for this tool. Perhaps people need a reminder that Hillary's taken more money from lobbyists than McCain and Obama combined. And lest they forget, Hillary supported the invasion of Iraq. Thousands of Americans have died and close to 100,000 civilians have been killed. Now, she's trying to outhawk McCain by saying she'd push to "totally obliterate" Iran. A person of sound judgment would be discussing diplomacy. My head hurts now, make her go away.
Pastor Roger Byrd of Jonesville Church of God put the sign up which reads "Obama Osama humm are they brothers?" Pastor Byrd says the sign is not meant to be racial or political but rather to make people think. "His name is so close to Osama I have a feeling he might be Islamic therefore he doesn't recognize Christ," Pastor Byrd said. Jonesville Church of God does not have any African American members.
Tonight I had an opportunity to ask Barack Obama a question that is on the minds of many Americans, yet rarely rises to the surface in the great ruckus of the 2008 presidential race -- and that is whether an Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House.
Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted -- but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as "a partisan witch hunt." However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because "nobody is above the law."
Meanwhile, the Hildabeast continues to morph into a Republican. We were delighted to see Stewart call bullshit on her "elitism" charges: "Not only do I want an elite president, I want someone who's embarrassingly superior to me."
If you haven't seen it, this is essential: Baracky: The Movie [via Rumproast]
Rob Corddry to Play Ari Fleischer In Stone's Bush Film
What genious casting. Josh Brolin has already been cast as Bush, but we're thinking Shatner's got the bravado to do a good Rumsfeld. David Cross could do Cheney. And Michael Vick could play Rove. From The Vulture
On Monday, we jokingly suggested that Oliver Stone's upcoming Bush movie, W, would be a comedy since, based on all leaked evidence, it seems like it's shaping up to be the Anchorman of presidential biopics. And now, MTV is reporting that hilarious former Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry, star of such political dramas as Blades of Glory and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, has signed on to play White House press secretary Ari Fleischer!
the surge proves that there is no military solution to Iraq. Our military cannot guarantee Iraqi economic progress or government efficacy. Look at the facts -- oil production remains below prewar levels, electricity in Baghdad remains below prewar levels, unemployment is as high as 50 percent in certain areas, and the Iraqi Government refuses to take the political steps necessary for national reconciliation.
We must not be fooled by those who say there will be chaos if we leave Iraq. The leaders of the Iraqi factions can choose whether or not there will be chaos in Iraq. Prime Minister Maliki, Moqtada al Sadr, President Talabani, and Vice-President Hashimi -- they control the forces. In fact, it is widely understood that Moqtada al Sadr's call to his Mahdi militia for a cease fire has been critical to the reduction of violence.
The more U.S. troops we send to Iraq, the more dependent the Iraqis become on U.S. Forces. The longer our troops are there, the less likely it is that the Iraqi security forces and police will take the lead in securing and stabilizing their own country.
Simply put: Why, after five years, $535 billion, over 4,000 American lives lost and nearly 30,000 wounded, can't the Iraqi government control their own country? The answer: Because they won't, as long as we are there. That is what the surge in fact proves.
They're at an all-time low. (Sorry, that sounded like a Fat Albert joke). From MSNBC:
As expected, one of the two major Democratic candidates saw a downturn in the latest NBC/WSJ poll, but it's not the candidate that you think. Hillary Clinton is sporting the lowest personal ratings of the campaign. Moreover, her 37 percent positive rating is the lowest the NBC/WSJ poll has recorded since March 2001, two months after she was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg is introducing Obama this morning at Cooper Union. Sounds like an endorsement to us.
While we're on the subject of Hillary, maybe her story about "dodging bullets" in Bosnia was true after all...
Mrs. Clinton's advisers said they had spent recent days making the case to wavering superdelegates that Mr. Obama's association with Mr. Wright would doom their party in the general election.
It's like we've been saying all along, her candidacy would be doomed to fail. From the Boston Globe
For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show...
Spurred by conservative talk radio, GOP voters who say they would never back Clinton in a general election are voting for her now for strategic reasons: Some want to prolong her bitter nomination battle with Barack Obama, others believe she would be easier to beat than Obama in the fall, or they simply want to register objections to Obama.
"It's as simple as, I don't think McCain can beat Obama if Obama is the Democratic choice," said Kyle Britt, 49, a Republican-leaning independent from Huntsville, Texas, who voted for Clinton in the March 4 primary. "I do believe Hillary can mobilize enough [anti-Clinton] people to keep her out of office."
Since every scandal-plagued resignation deserves a theme song, this one goes out to Eliot Spitzer via our friends The Gazetteers: "More People Should Resign"
Generally we recoil in pain at the thought of Sinbad. But we have to admit his attack on Hillary's "experience building" trip to Kosovo (she was accompanied by Sinbad and Sheryl Crow) was pretty damn funny. From DailyKos
"What kind of president would say, 'Hey, man, I can't go 'cause I might get shot so I'm going to send my wife...oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.... I think the only 'red-phone' moment was: 'Do we eat here or at the next place.'"
As predicted, Clinton is breaking her oath to the DNC and beginning to push harder to have Florida and Michigan counted. From Newsweek:
NEWSWEEK: You ' ve been advocating seating delegations from Michigan and Florida. But Senator Obama wasn ' t even on the ballot in Michigan. Does making this argument risk alienating voters who think you ' re breaking the rules or changing the rules?
THE HILDABEAST: I don't think so. I mean, he had a choice to be on the ballot. He chose not to be. I chose to stay on the ballot. So that was a choice he made. His campaign then ran a very vigorous effort to try to defeat me with uncommitted delegates, and he lost. So it wasn't as though there wasn't a contest. There was a contest. And I won. And I won resoundingly in Florida... I don't think we should be about the business of denying voters in Michigan and Florida the right to be heard.
Believe it or not, these are the words of a member of Congress, not a televangelist. Let Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern know what you think: sallykern@okhouse.gov. From Pam's House Blend
I honestly think it's [homosexuality] the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.
They want to get them into the government schools so they can indoctrinate them.
...They are going after our young children, as young as two years of age, to try to teach them that the homosexual lifestyle is an acceptable lifestyle.
You know, gays are infiltrating city councils...did you know that the city council of Eureka Springs is now controlled by gays -- they are winning elections.
One of my colleagues said We don't have a gay problem in our community...well you know what, that is so dumb. If you have cancer in your little toe, do you just say that I'm going to forget about it since the rest of you is fine? It spreads! This stuff is deadly and it is spreading. It will destroy our young people and it will destroy this nation.
Here's an idea for an Obama ad: a montage of Clinton's Sybillish personalities that have surfaced during the campaign with a solemn voiceover at the end saying, "Does anyone want this nut answering the phone?"
How is it that she became the one who's perceived as more equipped to answer that 3 a.m. call than the unflappable Obama? He, with the ice in his veins, who doesn't panic when he's losing or get too giddy when he's winning, who's as comfortable in his own skin as she's uncomfortable in hers. There have been times in this campaign when she seemed so unhinged that I worried she'd actually kill herself if she lost. Every day, she reminds me more and more of Adele H., who also had an obsession that drove her insane.
A few weeks ago, I started to feel sorry for her. Oh Christ, let her win already...Who cares...It's not worth it. There's not that much difference between them. She can have it. Anything to avoid watching her descend into madness. So I switched. I started rooting for her. It wasn't that hard. Compromise comes easy to me. I was on board.
And then I saw the ad.
I watched, transfixed, as she took the 3 a.m. call...and I was afraid...very afraid. Suddenly, I realized the last thing this country needs is that woman anywhere near a phone. I don't care if it's 3 a.m. or 10 p.m. or any other time. I don't want her talking to Putin, I don't want her talking to Kim Jong Il, I don't want her talking to my nephew. She needs a long rest. She needs to put on a sarong and some sun block and get away from things for a while, a nice beach somewhere -- somewhere far away, where there are...no phones.
To beat Barack Obama among pledged delegates, Clinton now needs even bigger margins in the 12 remaining primaries than she needed when I ran the numbers on Monday--an average of 23 points, which is more than double what she received in Ohio. Superdelegates won't help Clinton if she cannot erase Obama's lead among pledged delegates, which now stands at roughly 134. Caucus results from Texas aren't complete, but Clinton will probably net about 10 delegates out of March 4. That's 10 down, 134 to go. Good luck.
I've asked several prominent uncommitted superdelegates if there's any chance they would reverse the will of Democratic voters. They all say no. It would shatter young people and destroy the party.
Clinton's only hope lies in the popular vote--a yardstick on which she now trails Obama by about 600,000 votes. Should she end the primary season in June with a lead in popular votes, she could get a hearing from uncommitted superdelegates for all the other arguments that she would make a stronger nominee (wins the big states, etc.). If she loses both the pledged delegate count and the popular vote, no argument will cause the superdelegates to disenfranchise millions of Democratic voters. It will be over.
On another note, a Republican friend of the site who lives in the South (and is often our barometer for all things GOP) has this to say about Hillary's electability:
"Nothing mobilizes Republicans to get out and support a candidate that they are lukewarm about more than a Clinton. The Republican direct mail people are salivating at the thought. The RNC is clearing out space in its bank account to make room for the money. R's just have a natural reaction against her and we cringe. Kind of like when you burp and throw up a little in your mouth. It is the same."
This has got to be a first. Here in Austin, on the night before that make-or-break Texas primary, the Clinton campaign has set up a filing center for the traveling press corps... in a men's room. Insert metaphor here
Look, we loathe McCain as much as the next guy but today's New York Times story is in bad form. Sure, he's been overly cozy with lobbyists and his "let's reform Capitol Hill" mantra is nothing but rhetoric. He was part of the Keating Five scandal, for Christ’s sake, which cost tax payers billions of dollars. More recently, he betrayed his own McCain-Feingold Act by setting up the nonprofit Reform Institute from which he funneled hundreds of thousands in soft money to his own campaigns. And who can forget his we could be in Iraq for a 100 years war mongering? McCain’s sleazebag credentials are solid.
But did the paper really need to make insinuations about his sex life? Especially since these insinuations come from anonymous sources who were merely "concerned that his relationship [with Iseman] had become romantic." Sounds like the Times is grasping at straws, not to mention making us queasy by forcing us to think about John McCain having sex. Their anonymous sources all stop short of claiming an affair actually happened. If they've got hard evidence that McCain was sleeping with a lobbyist (whose clients benefited from the tryst) then let's see it. Otherwise, making insinuations about a candidate's personal life on such shaky evidence is truly below the belt. Didn't we learn our lesson from Monicagate? The Times made the right decision to expose "the Maverick's" hypocrisy, but printing unfounded insinuations about an affair to generate interest in their story is Murdoch territory. Even if the rumors turn out to be true, it’s unethical to report them with such flimsy evidence.
The real story the press should be focusing on in regard to McCain is his vote last week to green-light torture. As a former prisoner-of-war and a so-called advocate of human rights, McCain's vote to approve waterboarding is disgraceful. This is the story that the New York Times, and the other major media outlets for that matter, should be covering. It boggles the mind that McCain’s endorsement of torture wasn’t the story the Times chose to place on their front page today.
Leave it to the Democrats to lose an election. This is exactly what will happen if Hillary becomes our nominee. The GOP is splintered and cracking up. Rush Limbaugh, after all, is going apeshit about how liberal their frontrunner, McCain, will be as president. And evangelicals are dissatisfied with McCain too—he's “shaky” on abortion, taxes, and immigration in their view— while Romney is, well, he's just too Mormony for the "family values" crowd. Come November, much of the GOP will likely stay home.
The ONLY thing that can prevent the GOP from imploding is Hillary Clinton. The GOP loathes the Clintons and they will show up in unprecedented numbers to keep her out of office. She will unite them. Jerry Falwell was a loathsome lunatic, but he was 100% correct when he noted Hillary's power to mobilize the GOP: "I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate," said Falwell, "Because nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton... If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't."
And let's not forget that’s she’s been as hawkish as almost anyone in the Senate. Hillary supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and voted to give Bush the authority to preemptively invade. This is unforgivable. Thousands of Americans have died and close to 100,000 civilians have been killed. She claims that she didn't know that Bush would see the vote as a greenlight to invade, despite the fact that the rest of us knew he would. She's either lying or an idiot. Did anyone really doubt that Bush would invade Iraq after this vote was cast? Hillary knowingly gave Bush, Rummy and the rest of the neocons the authority to preemptively attack Iraq. Period.
Further, she hasn't learned from her mistake. Late last year Hillary signed a bill sponsored by Joe Lieberman that identified Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization. In doing so, she again is helping the administration to build a case for preemptive war.
And who can forget the dirty campaign that she's run? She's taken more money from lobbyists than anyone else and will undoubtedly cater to their interests, not yours, if elected. Currently, she's defying the DNC and breaking her oath by trying to obtain delegates in Florida and Michigan. And today, she's in Connecticut feigning tears to secure the sympathy vote. It worked in New Hampshire. Clearly, Hillary would run over her grandmother to make it to the oval office.
