Quotable

"The fight for a U.S. presidential nomination is far more punishing than anything most female leaders face anywhere else in the world. Margaret Thatcher, inevitably held up as the example to which all ambitious women should aspire, won her party's leadership. Only afterward did she become British prime minister. If the merciless British media had months of primaries to devote to analyzing Thatcher's every move, wardrobe change and political pronouncement, it is unlikely even she would have survived such a sustained assault. But, she didn't have to."

~ Janet Bagnall (The Gazette)

Video: American Idol Obama v. Supergirl Clinton

Geeklove has another fresh new video:

"I will get the people who voted for her, now the question is can she get the people who voted for me?" ... Barack Obama

Quotable

"Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure. Never forget your Personal Legend. Never forget your dreams. Your silent heart will guide you. Be silent now. It is the possibility of a dream that makes life interesting. You can choose between being a victim of destiny or an adventurer who is fighting for something important."

~ Paulo Coelho

Count. Every. Vote.

Clinton: "I have never seen anything like it"

Nor I.

"She is winning the general election today and he is not, according to all the evidence," Clinton said. "And I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running."

~ Former President Bill Clinton, "Bill Clinton: 'Cover up' hiding Hillary Clinton's chances" (CNN)



You are not alone in your disappointment and shock over how Senator Clinton's campaign has been treated.

Quotable

"Imagine if Democratic leaders had done what Hillary did when President Bush associated Barack Obama with terrorism in his much lauded speech in Israel. Remember, Hillary gave a heartfelt statement that Barack was one of our own and she would not stand by and allow him to be so denigrated ?

Women are outraged. We are still fighting for her, and we are ashamed of how our candidate, a woman who has devoted her adult life to serving others, a woman who has been a distinguished First Lady, a woman who has helped her colleagues pass legislation and win races in their own states, a woman who has stood up for all of our rights, has been treated not just by the media but by her own Democratic Party. Throughout all this, Hillary has maintained her focus, her message and her dignity. This is truly courage under fire. This is what it takes to be a great president. It is not over until the lady in the pant suit says it is and I and millions of others are with her."

~ Jill Iscol, "How Dare You!" (HuffPo)

Why does MSNBC love Obama so much?

Egalia at Tennessee Guerilla Women raises an interesting question: exactly why is corporate media giant MSNBC cramming Barack Obama down our throats?

But seriously, we've said it before, when the corporate media is shoving your Democratic candidate down your progressive throat, it may be time to ask yourself: Are you are indeed on a bandwagon, or are you in a flock?

Michelle Bernard: There Will Be Race Riots


More about this new MSNBC political analyst here.

OK, that was awkward

A week after Barack Obama's 57 state remark, he blows a great rally entrance by mistaking the name of the city in which the rally was held. Oops.

Both South Dakotans lavished all sorts of praise on Obama, according to reporters present, including The Times Nicholas Riccardi. As the large, enthusiastic crowd of some 7,000 supporters roared and waved "We can do it" signs and Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" blared, Obama bounded onto stage, grabbed the microphone and said, "Thank you, Sioux City!"

Trouble is, Obama was in Sioux Falls.

So was the crowd, which suddenly fell silent. Where are those Southwest Airlines get-away flights when you need them?

There's video here. I hope Obama regains his bearings soon.

Quotable

"When Obama supporting bloggers like Aravosis say that Clinton should withdraw from the race for the good of the party, they mean she should stop reminding them that fifteen million Democrats don't think Barack Obama is as wonderful as they think he is.

All those Democratic votes for Hillary force them to consider the possibility that they're not as smart and as hip and as on to a sure thing as their vanity has been assuring them they are.

If my guy is as wonderful is I think he is, then why doesn't everybody else know it? Why hasn't he just run away with the nomination? Can it be that my guy isn't that wonderful? Can it be that I'm not as smart and as hip and as on to a sure thing as I know I must be? Can it be that I'm....gulp...wrong?"

~ Lance Manion, That horrible, horrible woman

Hillary's Portland Town Hall

Hillary sounds strong -- presidential.



Why is Barack Obama dodging Town Hall meetings? I can understand his fear of facing Hillary Clinton in a debate. She cleans his clock every time. But, why is he now afraid to take questions from voters?

[via Taylor Marsh]

Quotable

"It has always been difficult for Mrs. Clinton to compete against an opponent who once received thunderous applause for blowing his nose."

~ Julie Bosman NYT

Oh, those sophisticated Obamabots! Can't wait to see how this Presidential Idol thing works out.

Obama's bad habit

Something tells me Elizabeth Edwards may have cringed when she heard about Obama's latest "sweetie comment" flap doodle and the timing of her husband's endorsement of BO -- timed to diminish Senator Clinton's 41 point victory in West Virginia.

Barack Obama has apologized to a Channel 7 reporter Peggy Agar for calling her "sweetie" and dodging her question about autoworkers.

Agar shouted a question to the Democratic presidential candidate during Obama's appearance Wednesday at a Chrysler LLC plant in Sterling Heights.

Agar asks Obama what he's "going to do to help American autoworkers."

He replies, "Hold on one second, sweetie, we'll do a press avail, thanks" but didn't get back to Agar.

Hour later, Obama left a voicemail for Agar. Obama apologized for not getting back to her. He also told Agar he has a bad habit of calling people "sweetie."

This is more than a bad habit, Barry. Smoking is a bad habit. Calling women "sweetie" -- whether they are factory workers or journalists -- is arrogance.

Obama damaged by his mishandling of Rev. Wright

Bad news for Barack Obama in today's USA Today/Gallup poll:

The poll showed Hillary Clinton leading Obama 51 percent to 44 percent nationally among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independent voters, in contrast to a CBS News/New York Times survey released on Sunday that had Obama leading Clinton by 12 points. ...

The USA Today/Gallup results were a sharp reversal from two weeks ago, before the latest controversy over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, when Obama led Clinton by 10 percentage points. The Thursday-through-Saturday survey had a 5 percentage-point margin of error.

USA Today said the results showed the Wright controversy had raised questions for some voters about Obama's values, credibility and electability.

Obama's strange response:

"We've probably taken as many hits as anybody has in this presidential campaign. Senator Clinton has not."

I guess calls for Senator Clinton to drop out especially after primary victories are nothing.

From Media Matters:

History continues to unfold on many levels as the protracted Democratic Party primary race marches on, featuring the first woman and the first African-American with a real shot at winning the White House.

Here's another first: the press's unique push to get a competitive White House hopeful to drop out of the race. It's unprecedented.

Looking back through modern U.S. campaigns, there's simply no media model for so many members of the press to try to drive a competitive candidate from the field while the primary season is still unfolding.

Until this election cycle, journalists simply did not consider it to be their job to tell a contender when he or she should stop campaigning. That was always dictated by how much money the campaign still had in the bank, how many votes the candidate was still getting, and what very senior members of the candidate's own party were advising.

Good ideas Republicans never had

"...I think Mr. Obama is doing much more harm to the Democratic cause by echoing Republican attack lines on such issues as insurance mandates and Social Security. And now he’s demonstrating his post-partisanship by giving Republicans credit for good ideas they never had."

~ Paul Krugman responding to Barack Obama's erroneous and pandering remarks regarding environmental regulation during his interview on Fox Sunday.

Quotable

"I wouldn't trust the Bush administration to organize a two-car parade."

~ Senator Hillary Clinton at a Town Hall stop in Indiana.