The Inmates have Taken Over the Asylum

Momentum

It's all about momentum.

And in spite of Howard Dean's 48 state strategy, Senator Obama's 57 state strategy and the Obama supporters state of denial strategy the momentum is going towards Senator Clinton. It's too late for Clinton but it's also too late for Obama.

When you check out Real Clear Politics and look at the reader's articles the majority are anti-Obama. They are also the ones with the most votes. Our little blog has grown like crazy once we went All Anti Obama All the Time. Other anti-Obama sites are popping up. Readership of pro-bama blogs like Kos-Co. and Avorisis have gone down. If anyone has access to the ratings of Olbermann please post in the comments but I don't know anyone who watches anymore.

People are angry. Angry that we have an antequated primary system that sets us up to lose. Angry that Dean and Brazille unilaterally dismissed two states from the country. Angry that the same press who should have learned the lesson of the consequences of going along and not questioning from Iraq have done the same thing with an untested, unvetted, unexperienced guy from Illinois.

Post Wright what has Obama won? North Carolina, although in recent polls he loses to McCain in the general and Senator Clinton wins, Oregon, latte all the way, and perhaps we can count Mississippi.

Go over to Mydd.com and look at the two electoral maps. See who wins. It sure ain't Obama.

I could have titled this post Born To Lose.

Because that's what Dean has set up for the Fall.

Political Healing

The Hippocratic Oath - FIRST DO NO HARM

Oh, Dr. Dean. You have destroyed the Democratic Party. What were you thinking telling us in Florida that we don't count? Michigan? Hail to the Conquering Hero's? No, you told them they don't matter either. I'm hoping for protests when Obama comes to campaign here. You wouldn't count our votes but you want to count our money? No thanks.

You wanted Senator Clinton to pull out to give you time to "heal" the party. Now the buzz is that Senator Clinton should stay in because it would be embarrassing for Obama if she wins Kentucky and West Virginia after pulling out. We can't have the golden child embarrassed can we?

I thought merit mattered. I thought experience mattered. You went another direction. You and Donna Brazille have pushed for Senator Obama to be the nominee and in a year where Democrats should blow the Republican nominee out of the water you've assured us another crushing defeat. Wow. I never would have thought of that.

Supposedly those of us who won't vote for Obama in the general election just feel this way because of the heat of the battle and we will come around come the fall. Good luck with that. We have been told that we are unimportant to the party. We're uneducated, we're not smart enough to see the greatness that is Obama. Yeah, it's going to take more than flowers to bring us back.

We have the most ridiculous method for choosing a nominee. Shouldn't we have a process that mirrors the general election? Might just give us an idea of who could win. If a candidate cannot win the big ones in the primary, California, New York, Florida, Texas (which I'll admit will probably be red) Massachusetts, how is he going to pull out a victory in November. Aren't most states winner take all in the general? Yet we have a convoluted "let's please everyone" system that is the equivalent of a gift bag for all at a six-year-old's birthday party. We can't have anyone's feelings be hurt. Don't get me started on Caucuses. We'll give you two hours to choose a candidate. It will be great. Oh, you can't make it because you have a job? These things happen.

I will give Obama credit for winning almost all the I's: Iowa, Illinois and Idaho. I'll give his campaign credit for being well run. We have seen that a well run campaign doesn't translate into a well run Executive Branch. Bush & Rove sure knew how to campaign; they had no idea how to govern.

I'll say to Senator Clinton - where was James Carville when you needed him? What were you thinking with Mark Penn? Why didn't you push back when it was obvious that the media was in the bag for Obama?

It's a sad day for us, as Democrats and former Democrats, that we started this process with a plethora of qualified candidates and we ended up with Obama.

Weapons of Mass Resentment

John's post on Ted Kennedy got me thinking about the SUPER delegates who support Obama.

I wonder how much of their support is because they believe in his policies and how much is resentment towards the Clinton's.

Donna Brazile - possible the worst campaign manager ever. Is she angry at the Clinton's because she believes it's President Clinton's fault Al Gore didn't become President? (I won't say he lost the election because he didn't.) Is she jealous of the fact that President Clinton had two terms?

Howard Dean-a loser. Unfair to be booted out of the race because of the scream? True enough, but losing Iowa was really the reason he gave up his bid. Does he resent that Senator Clinton lost Iowa and came back? Or is he like Ms. Brazile and is jealous of the only Democrat who won two terms since FDR?

Ted Kennedy - one thing I'll give him is he is not hypocritical enough to suggest that Senator Clinton should abandon her campaign. And as much respect as I have for President Carter he was beatable. Obviously. But Ted Kennedy couldn't do it.

John "Windsurfing Madness" Kerry - TWENTY KNOTS - HOLD MY CALLS! Let the Swiftboaters go unanswered for way to long and then once it had started to fade brought it right back into the spot light. Could not have run a worse campaign from a phone booth in Yankton, South Dakota with no change. Of course he comes out for Obama, they're cut from the same cloth. He must wonder, how did I lose to that schmuck and how did Clinton get to win?

Gary Hart. Nursing old resentments because the super delegates "gave" the nomination to Mondale. In actuality, he had less pledged delegates than Mondale but he had won the last contests so he argued that he had momentum on his side and should be the nominee. Odd, that he would support Obama.

Tom Dashle - blames President Clinton for making him Minority Leader.

Nancy Pelosi. Please vote this woman out. Right now she is the highest ranking woman in Washington. She doesn't want to give that up.

Huffington and Dowd - also don't want another woman to do better than them

Olbermann - who knows? He's lost his mind and his viewers and neither are coming back.

You can blame President Clinton for a lot. I was angry about the blow job because it was wrong and it diminished the good that he did. But the way all of the people above talk about him now you would think he lost, like them.

I'm supporting Senator Clinton, whether she is on the ballot or not. I am not afraid of a strong woman.

Here's my quote of the day:

Ms. Michaux and Ms. Prigg may be among the "bitter" people Mr. Obama was talking about -- a teacher, Ms. Prigg has no health insurance and says she may lose her house because her salary won't cover the monthly mortgage payments.

But both women said they're sticking with Mrs. Clinton.

"I felt back in the 1990s when the Clintons were in, I lived pretty good, and now my life is going down the tubes, like everyone else's," said Ms. Prigg. "When I met her in Pittsburgh eight years ago, I told her, Hillary, no matter what you run for, anyone who stays with Bill deserves my vote, and she loved it."

"I feel like I AM Hillary Clinton," she said. "Strong women are all Hillary Clinton."

Thank you very much Ms. Prigg, I couldn't say it any better.

Ted Kennedy, 1980, and the B.S. about Clinton needing to get out if....(fill in the blank)

Let me say this here because the MSM won't. If Clinton wins Pennsylvania by 1 vote she should stay in. There is no "margin" she needs to win by to justify her on going campaign. The idiotic Howard Dean, who is apparently an ego with a body attached, should shut his pie-hole. He's run the DNC into a ditch. Ditto for the very unwise and biased Donna Brazille - whose claim to fame is she ran Gore's campaign in 2000. A campaign in which Gore lost his home state. You go, Donna!
Ted Kennedy's campaign in 1980 is instructive.
From wikipedia:
In 1980 Carter was still able to maintain a substantial lead even after Kennedy swept the last batch of primaries in June. Despite this, Kennedy refused to drop out. On the platform on the final day Kennedy, for the most part ignored, Carter.
The delegate tally at the convention was:
Jimmy Carter - 2,129
Ted Kennedy - 1,150
14 others - 66
Teddy K. refused to drop out with a deficit of 979 delegates. This was against a Democratic incumbent President. Clinton now has a 140 delegate deficit against BHO. 4 more super delegates threw their support to Clinton this week. Bet you didn't hear about them on MSNBC.

The Democratic Debacle of 2008

An ongoing fascination I have with the Snob-gate story is the ongoing cluelessness of the Obamites. None of them seem to understand why Obama's remarks in San Francisco are so offensive to so many people. They truly don't get it: including the man himself. Obama did not say he was wrong, merely that he did not say it very well.
What he said was, in essence, Marxist. The masses are stupid but needed. If they were not stupid they would not use guns and religion as an opiate. Obama has yet to refute this sentiment. His supporters are befuddled that everyone can't see the inherent wisdom of Saint Obama's remarks. Tom Dashle, a man who as minority leader lost his seat in South Dakota, defended Obama's remarks forcefully. Instead of responding to the basic class-ism Obama put in play the Obamites react with an indefensible defense.

Sensing that Ohio and Pennsylvania may now be lost in November to Mccain, Obamites insist they can make it up with Virginia and Colorado. All I can say is - they think we're the stupid ones. Even on the off - very off - chance Obama could win Colorado and Virginia the electoral college votes would still leave a 19 vote gap. They can't even do simple math. (Hey Arugulas - there is a calulator on your Iphones). Floridians are rightfully livid. There is no reasonable argument against seating all those delegates and counting all those votes. It is a heist by high end criminals to steal millions of votes.

The 1952 election looks like it may be the go to template here. War hero vs. egghead. The egghead loses. In 1952 young people were over the moon for Stevenson and his edicts issued from on high. 2004 is instructive as well. I doubt, to this day, Kerry understands why the windsurfing photo op was such a debacle. Gee, doesn't every one in Scranton windsurf? BTW: Morianna Huffington approved the piece from David Geffen's yacht in the South Pacific. Nice work if you can get it.

It is increasingly impossible to imagine "President Obama". I have no idea what is going to happen anymore. I have assumed it was over for Clinton about 45322 times since January. And onward she marches. The misogynist (read: almost all) media, the Wrong Rev. Dean and the spoiled elites have been after her with the long knives since last Fall. She still has a brutal fight ahead if she is going to pull this off. I have some hope now - but not much. She has conducted herself with stunning tact. Despite the Obamite horsecrap about her "throwing the kitchen sink" she has hardly laid a glove on him - to mix the metaphors. I respect her restraint but I do not like it. Obama is a very strong candidate, until you get to know him. If she really would "do anything to win" she would have dropped the Wright bomb in January. She did not drop it at all. If she really would "do anything" Obama's state senate no shows, his pals, the terrorist William Ayres, and the slumlord Rezko would have been on everyone lips in February. I promise you, Boone Pickens, is salivating at the prospect of dumping millions this Fall into the project of ensuring we know who Obama really is.

As Lynne in Lakeland said to me on the phone today: You can't win a general election with a coalition of African- Americans and people who buy brie.

One last note: I am fed up with being called a racist every time I post something critical of Obama. I know plenty of other who have had it with this Obamite meme as well. Frankly, the only thing left remotely intersting about BHO is his bi-racial background. The rest is errant, dishonest nonsense: a life populated by bombers, slumlords, and lies. I am sick to death of being threatened by the "you're a racist!" verbal rifle butt. I am not a racist. Anyone who thinks a white voter who opposes Obama is by default a racist is, in fact, a racist.

Besides all you Obamites: stop being such wimps - come to the actual fight. Stop cowering behind rhetorical straw men. Let's slam it for our candidates on merit, in the real world.

Oh yeah, you can't do that since you don't live in reality.

Miss Haley

From today's Lakeland Ledger:

"Hazel Haley, the Lakeland High School English teacher who was thought to have been the longest-serving teacher in the country, died at her home Monday, friends and colleagues said."

Miss Haley lived around the corner from me. I would meet her on her walks to the library. She still drove (a little scary) but "just to Publics, dear."

She taught more than 13,500 students. She was an amazing lady. (Sometimes a little racy, too!)

She also voted for Hillary Clinton in our primary. She couldn't stand Senator Obama.

Could we please allow her vote to count?

The calls for Clinton to drop out are creepy.

and mean in spirit, and coldly calculating, and vaguely sexist, and just plain DUMB.

Why in the world would Clinton drop out now? Those calling for her to leave now need to come clean on their motives. Essentially they are lying by omission. But as we know, it is part of the Obama playbook to remove the competition from ballots.

Bullet points:
1. A mere 130 delegates separate Senator Clinton from Senator Obama.
2. Clinton is behind in the popular vote by 1% by most counts. ONE PERCENT
3. If polls hold as they are now in PA and West Virginia she could pull ahead in the popular vote and another pillar of Obama's legitimacy will collapse. Will Pelosi make pronouncements about the "national popular vote" if Clinton has the majority?
And what is this nonsense about not counting Michigan and Florida voters in the totals? What planet are these pundits on? 1.7 million people in Florida matter. Dean has done real damage to the party in Florida with his lunk headed edicts.
4. If the FLA delegation is counted - as it should be - Senator Clinton is behind a mere 90 delegates. Obviously if PA and WV hold she would shave that lead further. (To 60? 50?) THe point being the race is close.
5. Clinton has beaten Obama in nearly all the large states or states Democrats must have in the fall: Mass, California, RI, NY, Ohio, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey. She has shown true strength among traditional Democratic voters. A huge chunk of BHO's coalition are not even Democrats.
6. BHO has run up some impressive victories but quite a few are in states that will never go BLUE in a general election. NEVER. South Carolina, Wyoming, Alabama, Kansas, Utah.
7. Every-time Clinton has been counted out she has roared back: After Iowa with NH and Nevada, after South Carolina with Florida and ALL the large states on Super Tuesday - except BHO's home state. After BHO ran off a series of minor wins she won Texas, R.I. and thumped him in Ohio - a lynchpin state.
8. BHO's wins in Washington, Minnesota, and Wisconsin indicate a weakness in Clinton's message - but hardly amount to having to exit the race.
9. There are states that a DEM will not win in the fall where Clinton won the Democratic primaries: Arizona, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. This proves that not all states where the Democratic party is a minority automatically went BHO. In short: Clinton has won big Democratic states AND small Democratic states.
10. BHO still has not been vetted. The Wright debacle coming AFTER the large majority of contests proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that ALL voters need to be heard. Imagine if the Wright tapes had been aired relentlessly in January. What else do we need to know about BHO? The major media has remained in an Obama trance throughout this year. But the truth has a way of coming out. By removing his opponents from ballots, and running against very weak opposition Obama has never really been tested. Nor does he intend to be. Presidents should be tested. Democrats have a responsibility to vet candidates. I know Hillary has been tested by on going, ruthless attacks. Everyone does. BHO is another story all together. He survived the Wright crisis with excuses and a compliant media - but lost a major component of his candidacy's must touted reasoning: Cross over Republicans. There won't be any. So if Clinton drops on now, and we find out something else disastrous about Obama - what then? The Rezko trial is ongoing, William Ayres has not been discussed by the television news outlets, nor has his weak Senate record. What else don't we know? I suspect quite a lot.
11. There would be an argument for Clinton to leave if the race was not close. It is exceedingly close. The Obama cabal that is harping on this wants to short circuit the remaining contests. Again: WHY? The media, that is wildly pro Obama, sat on the Wright tapes until the moment they could do the least damage: with 7 weeks between contests. Those tapes were going to be seen. The ideal time was chosen to shove them into the arena. There is no GOOD reason ABC could not have shown us the "God Damn America" tape in January. Or any other outlet. If Clinton leaves now the BHO cabal and the pro BHO media can air out any other damaging information this Spring, making it survivable. October surprises - especially in the case of a man people are prone to distrust already - are much more lethal. Believe me, the RNC has plenty.
12. My hunch is Clinton knows there is more damaging information on Obama. I do not know this. It is a hunch based on this: Clinton explained recently that all delegates have the right to change their minds. Why did she do this? It seems pointless. As things stand now both sides are hardened in their positions. Was she just being wistful? Hillary has many interesting character traits. Wistfulness is not one of them. The pattern of BHO's campaign has been pretty easy to follow - when he is allowed to make unfettered speeches he soars, when he is examined he wilts. The perfect example of this is when he wandered off the stage after 6 questions about Rezko saying "Come on guys!" as he left. Clinton, upon close examination, does quite nicely. Nearly all Clinton's "mistakes" have been in the present tense i.e. foolish statements by advisors, misreading Iowa voters etc. Obama's troubles have all been about his unexamined past. People intuitively know the difference here.
13. Finally, I suggest that Obama has gotten so far because he appears to be the perfect antidote to the awful Bush years, not because he is a better choice than Clinton. This is a reasonable and quite effective strategy. Had he run up large leads in votes and delegates I would agree that Clinton should go. No such thing happened. "Change" is a good, but overrated, campaign meme. Ask Carter. He ran on it in 1976 and began the race lapping Ford - by the time things had settled he won by 2% and was hobbled going into the White House.

Clinton is still a strong, viable candidate by all estimations except those of the pro Obama media and his fearful supporters. But there is nothing to fear in allowing the remaining states to have a choice. At least nothing for Clinton to fear. If, with a fair resolution to the Michigan and Florida issue, BHO garners enough delegates to win - so be it. If he does not, as he does not now, then the race should play out. If the race remains a virtual tie and BHO wins it with superdelegates but NOT the 9% of voters in Michigan and Florida (yes, Dean is throwing 9% of the voters overboard) his nomination will not be legitimate. Especially if a breakdown of the registered Democrats who voted indicate a preference for Clinton. Our parties nomination will have gone to the person who got the minority of Democratic votes.

Clinton is being asked to roll over for no good reason and plenty of disingenuous ones. She should do no such thing.

on another note entirely:
What is not being discussed by the inept American Media is the dangerous events in Iraq and what they may mean about war with Iran. Read this link.