There is a poll at the end of this diary! It's being voted on right now! Scroll down and vote, this is seroius! The quesiton is not importnant, also results not important. VOTE to show we are NOT AGRAID!! EMERGENGY! It wants more characteres before I can submit!! 1 Why is there no special EMERGENGY diary function? TIMe is important, MODERATORS!@! And we're runing OUT!
According to the AP's reporting, a high level source within her campaign says Hillary plans to drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination sometime in mid-April, setting the stage for a party-unifying Obama victory in Pennsylvania.
If this is true the recent rhetoric on Hillary's part is designed to make her exit seem like a martyrdom, and seem all the more altruistic, thus cementing her long-term viability and possible 2012 candidacy (should Obama lose).
The AP is reporting that Hillary will announce, somewhere in Pennsylvania, that she is suspending her long run for the White House in the interest of the Democratic party's long-term good. However, the senior aide is adding that she'll sort of remain in the race, acting as a non-competing candidate to retain her ability to guide the policies of her opponent Barack Obama.
This story will not be good in Chicago for another hour. If you live in California, don't take this seriously until, I dunno, maybe 3am. If you live in Denver, what, you can't hack it on a coast?
Largely as a result of portions (described in some sources as "splinter groups") of the Mahdi Army engaging in illegal smuggling activities in Basra (which increased, accompanied by higher levels of violence when the UK pulled out), the US and Iraqi armies have launched what is, in essence, a militarized police action against the Shia militia.
Well, in a story that could cut either way, there have been mass rallies in Basra, Iraq, over increased levels of violence since the British forces withdrew. The majority of the protestors were Shia, men, and apparently jobless.
Residents are becoming increasingly alarmed about security, saying that killings, kidnappings and other crimes have increased significantly since British forces turned over responsibility for the city at the end of last year. [Al-jazeera (English)]
Is this an argument for or against continued US involvement?
At the risk of getting banned for negatively impacting Markos' ad revenue...
So, yes, today sucked.
I told you it would.
The solution isn't to become depressed, and nor is it to bury your head in the sand. It's all about perspective. Obama is, mathematically speaking, being gravitationally pulled toward the nomination. He'll be alright. All of this mess right now is about appearances, and you can't do much to change that. So, for your own sake, keep perspective on the race as a whole AND on your own involvement.
It has been reported on Dailykos that Hillary Clinton cancelled an event in Cleveland, or Columbus, or somewhere in Ohio (or Texas!) in order to appear on Saturday Night Live. This is usually reported as an 8:15pm "Solutions for America" rally at a university.
However, this rally is taking place tomorrow* and Hillary Clinton apparently did not cancel or skip any events to appear on SNL (if you have a link to prove she did, that would obviously change things). See here. The Ohio schedule for today after the jump...
Two good resources I've found. Many may be aware of them but it never hurts to make sure that everyone is aware. Lots of hyperlinks in this diary, so try not to get confused. There are only two main sites and most of the links are to particular pages on those sites.
The part of a campaign where it gets borderline dirty. When the candidates try to outmanuever each other's talking points and spin, try to use the news cycles against one another, and generally (slightly) misrepresent reality all for the sake of winning at the polls.
You might think I'm being snarky, but I'm not. I really like arguing. This is the best part of the campaign besides the inauguration, and it's really just too bad that -- since someone had to lose -- the sparring partner here had to be Hillary fans.
But it's pretty much over now, I think. The fun might be at an end. After months of assuming Hillary would be the nominee, today I finally figured that Obama had a pretty good shot. And so the age of my snarky cheap shots at Hillary* may be coming to an end...
Well, I suppose it had to come to this. We all knew, deep down, we all knew.
According to TPM, Mark Penn has said the following:
Winning Democratic primaries is not a qualification or a sign of who can win the general election. If it were, every nominee would win because every nominee wins Democratic primaries.
That's right, every state that holds a Democratic primary is insignificant.
Could we possibly have a nominee who hasn't won any of the significant states -- outside of Illinois? That raises some serious questions about Senator Obama.
Oh, and when they say things like that you don't feel so guilty about posting half-hearted three line diaries comments at 2:26am. God bless you Mark Penn.
this is probably the shortest, most awful diary i've ever done. in fact, it's almost entirely made up of a previously posted comment.
and look, i can't even be bothered to capitalize!
but it's late and an interesting topic of discussion, so i'm going ahead with it. if there are objections to the slapdash nature of this diary -- or it's generally unimportant topic -- i'll delete it.
Earlier today on one of the debate threads a heroic act, an improbable act, an unpopular but righteous act took place. And then the retribution of small-minded individuals played out, dragging the hero down. This diary is meant to right that wrong, to shine light on the work of one of the most daring Dailykos users of our generation.
[Update: if a moderator wants me to delete this, or thinks it's inappropriate, please leave a comment to that effect. It's almost kind of a sadsack parody of bink's diary, so if it pisses people off I'd rather not.]
I realize this is really sour grapes. But I knew Hillary would win, so it's not as bad as it could've been. And, to be honest, it's just the Yin to bink's diary's yang, so of COURSE it's gonna be bitter. So Hillary supporters should just deal with it. We won't post in the celebration diary, don't post in this one. And no, I'm not one of those, "I won't vote for Hillary" people. I would.
Well, Clinton won Nevada with about the spread most polls predicted. This is displeasing to most Obama and Edwards supporters. And it doesn't become any less depressing when one looks down the road to November, realizes Hillary will probably be our nominee, and you feel all those downticket gains melting away.
Goodbye yellow brick majority!
Can we still do it?
There's always South Carolina!
The biggest hope Obama and Edwards supporters have at the moment is people really start to realize that Hillary might be our nominee. We can only hope the consequences of voting for Hillary -- ie: she's our nominee -- start to sink in.
I'm sick of having a country that's 50.1% versus 49.9%. I'm even sicker of politicians that are happy with that as long as they are, for now, the ones .2% ahead. It's sure to reverse itself, and that's no way to make real change.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
First, let's meet David Gergen, political mercenary. David Gergen was a strategist on George H. W. Bush's 1980 campaign and an advisor to Ronald Reagan.
Now let's meet Bill Clinton. Back in 1993, the unexperienced guy from Hope wasn't the bitter man we see today. The guy with the great speaking skills, a vision for the future, and a few skeletons in his closet was still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed enough. He hadn't signed NAFTA yet. He hadn't "reformed" welfare. He hadn't bombed Iraq and one of Africa's largest pharmaceutical factories because of "suspected WMDs." He wasn't the Rhodes scholar who seemingly can't understand a simple argument about what kind of presidencies realign America.
Yes, indeed, back in 1992, Bill Clinton knew how to win an election based on optimism and make it matter once in office. Where'd he learn that from?
In a story that unites the terrorism, theocrats, and lobbyists, former Reagan-appointed UN delegate and Michigan Congressman Mark D. Siljander (R) has been indicted on charges of involvement in a terrorist fundraising ring that raised and sent $130,000 to an al-Qaida affiliated group that aimed to kill American troops in Afghanistan. Siljander, who served from 1981-87, had been hired as a lobbyist for the group in their attempt to get off the United States' list of registered terrorist groups.
A Kansas City grand jury has charged a defunct charity in Columbia with sending money to an Afghan terrorist with ties to al Qaida and the Taliban.
The indictment, returned early this afternoon, also accuses a former U.S. congressman of money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
The new charges also accuse Mark Deli Siljander ... of receiving $50,000 from the charity in 2004. Siljander, who operates a Washington D.C. public relations firm, was hired to lobby Congress to remove the charity from a U.S. Senate Finance Committee list of non-profit organizations suspected of being involved in supporting international terrorism.
