Barack Obama Elected President!

[Southofnowhere]

OMG! Obama let Hillary off the hook and now her peeps are on the Sunday shows blaming Obama for not letting Hillary off soon enough and saying that he is tearing apart the party!

Not matter what he does she BASHES him!

[Roman]

Then I tell you what. They better not watch MTP.

Almost to a person, she is getting blasted for her comments. She also got blasted for the sexism comments she made.

Her people are a real piece of work. I feel it shows that, unlike her, he can give her the benifit of the doubt. Remember his bitter comments and how she took them and ran with them? He let her off the hook.

She proves every time now when she opens her mouth that she does not deserve to be VP or President. She just needs to call it a day.

And I agree with Mr. Mark. After saying what she said........how is people just supposed to forget and move on? The same people didn't forget Obama's comments.

[Jess]

I don't think Hillary is being well-served by many of those in her campaign. My hope is that should she ever run again that she will appoint people to her campaign that hope to see her elected. These people seem far more interested in returning themselves to the White House than serving the best interests of Hillary Clinton.

I wish Mr. Wolfson would shut up.

[Roman]

Doesn't he just stick his damn foot in his mouth every time he talks?

IA with you ten fold. She has not assembled a good team. She's all over the place. Even though there was no way I was voting for her now, I do hate the fact that she has become a joke to many people. Instead of seeing that, she keeps playing this sexism card.

So, I'll say this.........just like other hate to be called racist for not voting for Obama, I am alittle tired of people saying that men who don't vote for her are sexist.

Why can't she just be a bad candidate who ran a bad campaign?

Hillary's Fuzzy Memory About 1992

Posted 5/25/2008 7:06 AM CDT

In the days since Hillary Clinton’s monumental gaffe in South Dakota in which she referenced the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, many have defended her statement, saying she was merely citing historical perspective as a reason to stay in the race. Since in the same remarks she made a point of Bill’s 1992 run for the presidency as an example of a contest that was not decided until June, I thought it might be a good idea to look back at the 1992 Democratic Primary and see what actually happened.

As usual with the Clintons, you have to parse every word to get to the meaning of what they say. Hillary said that Bill didn’t win the nomination until the June primary in California. Technically that’s true, but it all depends on what the definition of "win" is.

In 1992, there were 3 major contenders for the nomination–Bill Clinton, Paul Tsongas, former Senator from Massachusetts, and Jerry Brown, former Governor of California. Tsongas won in New Hampshire with Clinton finishing second. Bill Clinton won nearly all the Super Tuesday primaries, making him the front-runner for the nomination. Jerry Brown then upset Clinton in Connecticut and Colorado.

On March 17, Tsongas dropped out after finishing a distant third behind Clinton and Brown in Michigan. On April 7, Brown lost to Clinton in Wisconsin and New York and was never a serious contender after that. Clinton defeated Brown in California in June to clinch the nomination, which by that time was a foregone conclusion.

To get a further perspective on the race that was really a no-contest after Super Tuesday, the final delegate count was Clinton 3372, Jerry Brown 596, Paul Tsongas 289. Clinton won primaries in 39 states compared to 6 for Tsongas and 3 for Brown. Hardly the nail-biter that Hillary would have us believe. But much like the sniper fire incident in Bosnia, Hillary’s memory gets a little fuzzy when it comes to historical facts.

If she wanted to cite a primary race that was decided late she could have used 1976, when Carter didn’t clinch the nomination until after he won Ohio on June 8, or 1984 when Mondale’s victory in New Jersey on June 5 gave him the victory in his primary battle with Gary Hart. Both of these are more recent examples than Bobby Kennedy in 1968.

What does all this mean? It tells me that Hillary Clinton is nearly as bad a student of history as she is a presidential candidate.

[Jess]

I thought that was the case. He didn't wrap up until California, but for all practical purposes the race was over after Super Tuesday. I think Jerry Brown being referred to as a serious candidate is a bit of stretch, but then again, it was a long time ago.

A long time ago: that reminds me, Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. By my math, that is 28 years ago. An entire generation of Americans, plus a few, have come of voting age. At what point in time do we acknowledge the "Reagan Democrats" are Republicans?

[Wales2004]

Maybe never since it sounds remarkable to those in the media that like to repeat it.

I fully expected ABC News to come to HC's aid as much as possible on this. GS can't help himself on the bias or the double standard and I don't see how he expects to be taken seriously by anyone that's neutral or that doesn't share his bias.

The good thing about MTP was that no one was hyped at all. The word 'assassination" conjures certain images or feelings that some people can't easily ignore so no matter who says it's over and they've moved on, it doesn't mean everyone will do it.

Right now the Clintons are probably antagonizing some of the super delegates by playing victim. If winning the popular vote is going to help her in a primary system that is wholly dependent on delegates then more power to them. They can sleep more soundly with that knowledge and it'll mean a whole lot if the super delegates turn on them. But hey, she's out saving the primary voters of FL and MI from a fate as awful as slavery.

[Roman]

From The Washington Post:

By Zachary A. Goldfarb

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign accused Sen. Barack Obama's campaign of fanning a controversy over her describing the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy late in the 1968 Democratic primary as one reason she is continuing to run for the presidency.

"The Obama campaign ... tried to take these words out of context," Clinton campaign chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said on "Fox News Sunday." "She was making a point merely about the time line."

The issue is particularly sensitive given longstanding concerns about Obama's safety as a presidential candidate. (He first received Secret Service protection last May.) The Obama campaign called Clinton's words unfortunate and circulated a TV commentary criticizing them, although Obama himself said Saturday that he took Clinton at her word that she meant no harm.

Hours after mentioning Kennedy's assassination, Clinton said, "I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, and particularly for the Kennedy family, was in any way offensive."

Obama senior strategist David Axelrod dodged questions about why the campaign was still circulating commentaries criticizing Clinton even after suggesting it wants to move beyond the controversy.

"We're beyond that issue now, so certainly we're not trying to stir the issue up," Axelrod said.

Asked if Clinton has personally called Obama to apologize for the reference, McAuliffe said she has not, "nor should she." He added, "Let's be clear. This had nothing to with Senator Obama or his campaign."

McAuliffe noted that Robert F. Kennedy's son -- who endorsed Clinton last November -- has said that Clinton's reference to his father's death did not cross the line.

"If Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn't find offense to it, why is it that everybody else should?" McAuliffe said. "They shouldn't. They ought to take Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -- he did not misinterpret it or misjudge it."

Appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation", Clinton senior strategist Howard Wolfson said McAuliffe is "absolutely right" that Clinton didn't want to apologize to Obama for the remark and said: "I think it was unfortunate to attack Senator Clinton's remarks without knowing fully what she had said."

McAuliffe said Clinton is staying in the race to give hope to the millions of women who have voted for her and "she is winning races." And the campaign chairman made clear that his boss would strongly consider pressing on if the Democratic National Committee does not allow Florida and Michigan delegates to vote at the party's convention this summer -- a decision that would boost Clinton's delegate total. The DNC's rules and bylaws committee is scheduled to meet Saturday to discuss the issue.

"We are prepared to fight this so that all 50 states are included, that the delegates be seated. Let's have no questions about that. This race is still very close," McAuliffe said.

Wolfson said the campaign believes the DNC will reinstate Florida and Michigan "100 percent. That's what they should do. That will obviously help us, but it's the right thing to do."

The Obama campaign, meanwhile, delivered a strong signal that it expects the nomination contest to wrap up in the next 10 days, after the final primaries.

"We expect on June 3rd that this process will come to an end," Obama senior strategist David Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week."

"People in this country want change. They've identified Senator Obama as the candidate who can bring that change," he said. "And we're going to be united as a party after June 3rd."

Axelrod acknowledged, "There's an enormous amount of pride and investment in Senator Clinton among millions of women across this country," and that unifying the party after a tense nomination contest will produce "some tumult in the short run."

However, he said, Clinton's "strongest supporters understand how desperately we need change in this country, and I think that they understand that this is a critical election."

One prominent Clinton supporter acknowledged that virtually all hope for her winning the nomination is gone now.

"Obama clearly has the momentum. I am a proud Hillary delegate. But I predict the race will be over soon," said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.). "The loser will concede graciously. "And I hope that we build what I call a unity ticket, either with both of them on the ticket or with the people on the ticket strongly representing the two bases which we will need to combine if we're to win in November over a very strong Republican challenge."

House Members Looking Ahead to November

The leaders of the Republican and Democratic House campaign committees clashed over their parties' chances in November.

Republicans have been particularly nervous recently after losing three consecutive special elections to Democrats in recent months.

"We've got a challenging landscape, no doubt about it," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chairman of the Republican National Congressional Committee. "But I think the fall elections are fundamentally different than a series of specials."

"We actually, if you'll recall, won all the special elections in 2006 and then got our clock cleaned pretty good at the end of the year," Cole said. "So I think once we're in a presidential year, the dynamic changes and we'll be in a lot stronger position."

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Cole's counterpart at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, wouldn't predict a number of wins for Democrats.

"t is a rough environment for the Republicans, and it's a rough environment because of the mistakes that they've made and the fact that we, on the Democratic side, have been pushing an agenda for change and they've been trying to stand in the way of change," he said. "They have really become the party of no, veto and the status quo."

______________________________________________________________________________

From Newsday.com

After Kennedy comment, many seem over the Hill

Hillary Rodham Clinton's bizarre reference to Robert F. Kennedy's assassination Friday came at the worst possible time - a moment when many in her campaign were angling for a graceful exit and the candidate herself was plotting a final push to win the overall popular vote.

Barack Obama, campaigning in Puerto Rico, dismissed the remark as a "careless" gaffe - but longtime analysts say it could cost her a vice presidential offer or even hasten her exit from the seemingly endless nomination fight.

"I think this is it - she's done," predicted a top Obama staffer shortly after Clinton, before a South Dakota editorial board on Friday, invoked the timing of Kennedy's 1968 assassination to defend her decision to remain in the race.

Clinton never mentioned Obama by name, but some of his allies interpreted the comment - which she later apologized for - as a suggestion the Illinois senator was a potential target.

The former first lady, campaigning in Puerto Rico, hasn't suffered a major wave of defections since news of the remark broke late Friday - but she suffered a serious blow yesterday when the co-chairman of her national Hispanic advisory board, Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), defected to Obama. Cardoza gave no indication the Kennedy comment prompted the switch.

Many inside Clinton's camp were saying she'll survive the statement - if only for the final two weeks of balloting. Clinton is pushing hard for an overwhelming win next Sunday in Puerto Rico to erase Obama's lead in the popular vote.

"I don't think the Kennedy thing is going to be that big just because this race wasn't going to last much longer anyway," said a top Clinton supporter in New York who said he was "disturbed" by her remark to the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader.

"She thinks Puerto Rico is the whole ballgame. ... She thinks she'll be able to surpass him in the popular vote and use that to convince all those superdelegates," he added.

But longtime experts call that wishful thinking. They say Clinton's comment unwittingly gave voice to an unspoken fear among some Obama supporters that the pioneering candidate's life could be endangered. They believe it's likely her mention of Kennedy's June 1968 killing will hasten the final cascade of uncommitted superdelgates to Obama.

"I think it's over for her," said University of Maryland professor Ron Walters, who studies race in politics.

Walters said black talk radio has been buzzing with theories about Clinton's motivation for discussing RFK, opening an even wider breach between the Clintons and black voters that began during January's South Carolina primary.

"Blacks are giving [Obama] 92 percent of their vote, and they're talking about this all over the country. And they're angry about these comments. If he's at all sensitive, he cannot put her on the ticket."

Obama, who seemed willing to cut the former first lady some slack yesterday, chalked up her gaffe to fatigue after 17 months of stumping.

"I've learned that when you are campaigning for as many months as Senator Clinton and I have been campaigning, sometimes you get careless in terms of the statements that you make and I think that is what happened here," Obama told Radio Isla Puerto Rico yesterday. "Senator Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it and I take her at her word on that."

Stephen Hess, senior fellow emeritus in governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., said Clinton's gaffe "put the finishing touches on a unity ticket that was never meant to be."

Hess, who previously thought Clinton would be given time to wind down before the August Democratic National Convention, now believes she will be pressured to end it early next month.

Clinton's RFK comments "should never have been made" and "goes to all sorts of questions about her judgment and motivation," said Merle Black, a political-science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

"It'll be very hard for her to walk away from," Black said.

When questioned about Clinton's attempts to explain her remarks by putting them into the context of presidential primary campaigns going into June, Black laughed out loud.

"Come on," Black said. "It gets even worse when you try to rationalize it. She just screwed up, big time."

"This is not a story about Hillary, or RFK. This is about feeding the 24-hour media beast of cable news."

The Rev. Al Sharpton - New York-based civil rights activist and former presidential candidate, who said he spoke to Clinton yesterday morning and was convinced she meant no harm by the comment:

"I'm outraged to think we could be cavalier or unthinking in even bringing this up. ... We have not gotten to the point where we can talk about these assassinations like they don't mean anything today."

Robert Kennedy Jr. - previously endorsed Clinton for president, in a statement released through Clinton campaign:

"It is clear from the context that Hillary was invoking a familiar political circumstance in order to support her decision to stay in the race through June. I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband's 1992 race, both of which were hard fought through June. I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense."

Gary Ackerman, (D-Jamaica Estates):

"I think she's a potential vice presidential candidate anyway. That's what conventions are for - delegates pick the candidates. I don't think this derails anything. It's just a distraction."

Obama ally Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois:

"It was ... a careless remark and we'll leave it at that."

[Wales2004]

There are many things that make for good discussion in those articles but I just want to know if the Clinton camp is seriously crying foul? If they are then I am to assume that they have never used dirty tactics such as Osama/Obama to get votes, they've never made divisive statements to get votes, and that they've never exploited Obama's poor choice of words to get votes. Since I know that they have then they don't need to call foul any time they lose control of the game. It's not pretty at all. It's weak and a turn off.

Gary Ackerman make a good point about the delegates and the conventions but he should ask some of the black voters who are said to be concerned if they see this as just a distraction. If enough don't then he might want to rethink that because it might be detrimental to his party. You know on second thought, he should tell Al Sharpton that it's just a distraction.

[Roman]

Hillary’s string of slip-ups too much to take

Margery Eagan By Margery Eagan

Sunday, May 25, 2008 - Updated 16h ago

Boston Herald Columnist

Here’s the real problem for Hillary Clinton: not gender, not the supposed sexists at MSNBC. No, the problem is half the country can’t stand her or trust a word she says.

Was the tearing up in New Hampshire real or fake? Did she somehow come to believe there’d been sniper fire in Bosnia, or did she just tell the same whopper over and over again? Are all these gaffes accidental or calculated, sincere or strategized, focus-grouped and poll-driven, like every move made - right down to summer vacation locales - by that aw-shucks, lip-biting, silky-smooth-operator husband of hers, Bill?

So on Friday in South Dakota, Hillary, before a newspaper editorial board, defended staying in the race by pointing out, “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right?” she said. “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”

OK, after wincing, I watched the video a painful dozen times more. She did look exhausted. The “assassinated” remark seemed spontaneous, not planned. It just slipped out, though in an oddly matter-of-fact fashion, as if she were wearily correcting some mis-reported detail of her health care plan, as if she completely didn’t get how “Oh-no!!!!”-inducing her remark was.

And not to the Kennedys (to whom she later apologized), but to Obama and all those who’ve worried about his safety quietly, among friends, but never out loud, certainly never to a newspaper editorial board to be broadcast coast to coast.

Still, I could have bought her line - that this was just another late-in-the-day mistake.

But when you look closer at her excuse, it doesn’t wash. They never quite do. The familiar pattern emerges: deception on deception.

Hillary later explained the “assassination” remark by claiming, “The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days” because of Senator Ted Kennedy’s brain cancer diagnosis. Yet she said more or less the same thing in March, to Time magazine, when Senator Kennedy was not, presumably, on her mind.

“Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June,” she told Time.

“Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual,” she said.

But when you look closer again, the remarks are not true, again. Bill Clinton’s primary race was essentially over in March, when Paul Tsongas dropped out and Clinton faced no serious opposition. As for RFK’s candidacy, it was not a long national soap opera. No, RFK won his first primary May 7 and was murdered four weeks later.

In fact this whole idea we’ve heard endlessly from Hillary - that primaries routinely run from January through June - is simply baloney.

Now let me point out here: None of this means I think she actually wants somebody to off Obama. God, I hope not.

But I remember seeing Obama at a rally in New Hampshire, jogging up to the stage, the screams and blaring Springsteen music, the electricity, the mania, really. It seems like a million years ago. It was January. Anyway, it hit me and the people with me in an instant. This guy is a phenomenon. Phenomenons get the nuts going. Something could happen to this guy.

The thought was so horrific yet so possible you only whispered it, then stopped, lest thinking it make it real. A little voice just goes off in your brain warning, no, no, don’t even dare. Here’s the kindest spin I can put on this mess: Hillary’s so lost, she can’t hear that little voice anymore.

[DevotedToAMC]

A friend of mine in an email called him Osama Obama as well and is not too thrilled with him but she will accept if he is president. I just hope she drops that whole name calling.

[Roman]

Yes, I think they are.

A shame, really. It's kinda like hey should not have pushed anything on this story......even though she said it, and when he made his comments, they didn't have any problem using it for political gain.

I don't he'll say that to AS. I think she's already getting her head handed to her BTS on this. When someone has a shovel.........no need to help them dig.

[Jess]

Somebody I know called him that in an email too. I was not thrilled with it at all. I also got an email with a bunch of really tasteless jokes and illustrations that pretty much seemed to say he was muslim. My first thoughts were what a bunch of bigoted jokes. I would hate to be muslim in this country. Then I though, he's not even Muslim. I hope it all stops.

I'm really not liking some of Hill's mouthpieces. I thought she was doing better when she apologized. Her husband made a career out of saying I'm Sorry. I think it works.

[David_Vickers]

The media and Barack Obama fanatics are making too much out of the RFK remark. It was ill advised but that's it. If RFK's own son isn't offended by it then why should anyone else. Some of Obama's fanatics would do just about anything. BTW, when I say Obama fanatics, I'm only talking about the very few of his supporters who seem to be saying just about anything to support Obama and to dirty Hillary!

[Southofnowhere]

I'm more worried about Hillary's fanatics doing something to Obama!

[DevotedToAMC]

Get this. A friend of mine in NJ heard of someone selling shirts in NYC that say on them "Who Killed Barack Obama?"..just very tasteless. And yes, he is not a Muslim. Even if he was, who cares? He is allowed to be of any religion he wants...not all Muslims are terrorists. I have a feeeling my doctor is Muslim and he is very compassionate, warm, friendly, down to Earth.

Some of Hillary's campaign people do need to be quiet since they are just adding more crap

And please tell me where there have been any reports suggesting one of her fanatics will try to harm him, possibly kill him? If anyone would do it, I would assume it would be some nutjob redneck in the South who is a racist pig...Hillary does not appeal to those kinds of idiots