It is time for clintons accept the verdict of democratic voters and graciouly endorse Senator Obama for democratic nomination

damn, she just can't stop praising the Republicans. Why doesn't she just do us all a favor and switch parties?

And for the record, I voted for her but this was before she spiraled out of control.

After realising (seeing the polls from PA) of today and showed no difference, there was no need of her continuing her attacks on Obama.

On the other hand, I sense she has no good advisors.

Too bad she was out to lunch on her Irak war vote.

Too bad she enabled Bush to make every bad decision and mistake he made in Irak.

But she did, so she is where she is.

Only questions left are how much more damage will she do to her party before she gives up? Or maybe, will she destroy her in order for a shot of winning?

To COl[retd]A.M.Khajawall -

Why would or should Hillary drop out?

FACTS

_ She has 49.8% of the popular vote

_ She has 48% of the pledged delegates

If Obama had been able to defeat her in the big, important states of CA, TX, OH, FL. NY, NJ, etc. then she would have been forced to drop out because he would have received enough pledged delegates to win the nomination.

But he was too weak (and she was too strong) so he is unable to win the required number of delegates to secure the nomination.

So why don’t you whine to him about being too weak to defeat her in these states and STOP whining to her about dropping out?

AND he’s outspending her 3 to 1 in PA so he better have a BIG victory there next week or he’s going to have a LOT of explaining to do.

H. Aslan Aslani-Far

Obama has done NOTHING in his state senate career and NOTHING in the US senate. The only bill he's had passes was a simple thing that was handed to him so real senators could focus on important matters. The bill was about relief to the Congo.

As far as the state senate career, Obama has conveniently 'lost' all his documentation. Sure! \

Some people will believe anything and ignore everything.

I wonder why??? She has been attaching him so much the last 4 days that I forgot this was a Presidential Nomination for the Democrats. I thought this was about the nomination for the Head of the NRA. Hillary needs to take Bill and Chelsea back to New York and pray to God that the people of New York will forgive her and let her serve out the remainer of her term. I for one will be requiring that she joins the Republican Party and make this official.

H. Aslan Aslani-Far - Obama - "And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Barack Obama violated two elementary rules of political campaigning. A candidate should never play the role of a political scientist or sociologist analyzing a key electoral swing group from afar and should never dissect the motivations of less privileged people when talking to a group of privileged people.

Kate - You wrote: She has been attaching him so much the last 4 days that I forgot this was a Presidential Nomination for the Democrats.

Attaching him? Say what?

ch: It's funny that your "Big State" argument includes Florida, which does not count and Texas, which she actually lost.

Obama made a very important call when he decided to be an early opponent of the war in Iraq. But, that is not the only decision he has ever made. He made a decision to support tax breaks for the big oil companies, because he voted for it in 2005. He made a decision that American families do not need protection from predatory credit card companies, because he voted NOT to cap interest rates they can charge. Where was his compassion and good judgement then? Now, of course, he regrets both of those votes. Obama is only human, and more human than some. If you will check their voting records, I believe you will find that Sen. Clinton has more consistently supported the interests of middle and working class Americans than Obama has. Passion is a blessing, but not when it obscures reason, common sense--such as, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is--and the ability to consider all the evidence before making a decision.

Dogsoldier: You make a good point, but one that is irrelevant to the question you're addressing, since your comment goes to the characerization of what Sen. Obama said and not to what he, in fact, actually said. If you listen to the audio, the comments, in context, do not carry the same implications. The fact is, Sen. Obama was discussing a matter of fact -- which is neither a particularly novel concept that he personally crafted, but a documented reality by those very sociologists and economists that are the basis of your argument.

H. Aslan Aslani-Far - Texas lost? Can you say what the will of the people were in a free vote in Texas?

I'm so tired of this. It is just a show.

Hillary will loose and her people will vote for Obama and Obama will win against McCain.

Bush has reached an all time low in approval ratings and will leave office as the worst President in our history. She doesnt need to convince voters of that fact. She is continuing to run on her platform of the issues as she should be - that is her strong suit.

With regards to Bill Clinton, he is a cheater who lied when he was caught cheating as most men do. But IMHO it has no relevance to his Presidency. With a 60% approval rating upon leaving office and an 80% approval rating among democrats, those who dont like him are certainly in the minority. All candidates are people and they all have personal lives and issues to resolve day to day. We are all shaped by our experiences in life as well as those who inspire us. Clinton has shown her strength of character in all that she has accomplished in spite of Bill and the misogyny embedded in our society. Her heroes are Eleanor Roosevelt and MLK - her personal life reflects their values that she shares.

Obama, however accomplished he may be politically in his few short years, does not embody the values of MLK (his political hero) because he values black separatism. He strikes me as a troubled individual with his own personal demons based on his actions, lack of actions, need to be liked by everyone, and a clear struggle with his heritage as he admits in his book and as his reasons for joining TUCC. This is typical of a person with low self-esteem. If in the event he faces and beats his demons and he vets ok on some legal issues, ethics issues, and his ties to people who support terrorists in the future, he might make a good leader. For now, I see him as a smart man with a weak character that is easily influenced. The fact that he took a run for the Presidency against his own personal statement in 2004 and is clearly being influenced by elitists like Kerry, Kennedy and Pelosi in this campaign is a clear sign of just how easily he is influenced. The more questionable influences are those of black separatists (hate group activity) like his wife and Wright are of greater concern. The office of the POTUS is no place to work out his personal demons... our future and lives depend too much on the actions of a POTUS to take the risk of electing Obama.

H. Aslan Aslani-Far - Bottom line, I would rather Obama said those comments than Hillary.

br: If you think that Sen. Clinton with all her political baggage, not to mention her great deficit in states won, pledged delegates and popular vote will win the Democratic nomination and go on to the general election, I'm afraid you'll be sorely disappointed. When it comes to electability, it is Sen. Clinton that does not stand a chance...after all she had all the advantages going into this primary season, starting off with 250 Supers, a political machine established by her husband, a national profile as First Lady...and still, she couldn't close the deal. The truth is, the more Americans learn about Sen. Clinton, the more they have to not like about her, and this does not aid in electability.

Dogsoldier: Yes, Sen. Clinton LOST Texas...it was reported by every single news agency...considering you're blogging, I figured you would have known.

"Clinton continued, “We have seen the power of the presidency placed in hands of un-ready or un-willing to address the tasks that lie ahead. Just think of the days after of September 11th imagine if President Bush had tapped the well spring of American energy initiative and good will. The president could have launched a Manhattan project for renewable energy.” Clinton continued to cite several other examples."

The one to tap American energy is Obama. After September 11th everybody wanted Bush to kick some tail and I give him that but since then he has slid us down side of the crapper. BTW: Bin Ladden expected to continue the weak responses of Billary1 shoot some cruise missles after everybody has hidden away and perhaps send some troops but withdraw if the hit us hard.

Hey Retired Colonial,
The verdict is not in. You would like for it to end prematurely, but this is not a military battle, it's a Democracy and we get to count the votes. Those that do not want to count the votes may be ELITISTS.
========================================
Obama, bitter, bitter, Obama
========================================

jstern: If you're saying that racial prejudice is prevalent where you are, I'm not so sure I agree that it applies across the state of PA...nevertheless, Gore and Kerry both won PA in the general elections of 2000 and 2004 and lost to GWB...so, although I do think PA is an important state, it really is not a benchmark for who will win the White House.

Steven Wilson

To bad Obama never tells us what he'd do! He flails his hands and preaches hope but when it comes to real solutions to real issues, he's completely bankrupt.

WestCoastMessenger: The Colonel is right. It's over. Sen. Clinton will not be the Democratic nominee.

Aston: Have you actually listened to, or read, Sen. Obama's platform? If you do, I think you'll realize that what you said about him not having a plan is completely without merit.

Aslan,

She was the presumptive front runner coming into the primaries (media created). As each of the primaries grew closer, the races tightened. This is not because Hillary is weak or has run a poor campaign, it is because Obama is an attractive candidate with ZERO record to evaluate. This coupled with the fact that the media is afraid to confront Obama on his laundry list of controversial associates. He has become a media darling because of his uniqueness.

As the election process grows longer, the media and electorate has more time to evaluate him.

The MORE they learn of OBAMA, the more skeptical they become, rightfully so.

She realizes this tactic isn't working

Obama has widen his lead national

and flipped the scripted on her

The Math is what the Math is.

Hillary can't catch up to Obama.

Must must destroy him to convince the Party Fats Cats to cast their lot with her instead of him.

This is her only chance.

I am sooo confused! I thought Hillary was running to be on the ticket with McCain. They have the same talking points and have similar voting records -why would she attack Bush?

Bush had plenty of experienced Washington people in his presidency. Based on everything they did, they clearly knew how the system worked and how to win favors for their business friends.

The biggest problem with Bush is that he never listened to people. Bush was a fighter who forced his ideas on America.

I want a president who surrounds themselves with smart people who care about this country.

Mark Penn bought by Colombia.
Howard Wolfson bought by Colombia.
Maggie Williams bought by her sub-prime mortgage company.
Bill Clinton bought by Colombia, China, and dozens more.

hey your dreaming if you think we will vote for the marxist ,excuse me the saint obama.no better to hold our wallets and our noses and vote for mcain.GO HILLARY.

H. Aslan Aslani-Far - Gore lost because of the electoral votes. Comparing Texas two step of which black districts even with same voting totals get more delegates than Latinos with same numbers. Black got 15 and Latinos got 8. Now, lets compare apples to apples with electoral votes in Democrat primary in front of us today. Just out of curiosity, who is ahead in this comparison?

I love how she paints herself out to be someone who cares for Florida and Michigan, but when the suggestion was floated of cutting the delegate count in those two states by half (much as the Republicans did), she refused outright to accept it. She wants those delegates seated as-is, and to ignore the fact these two states violated DNC rules... as well as her own previous statements that these two states should be stripped of all delegates.

After being Boooed and Jerred on her speaking tour over the "Bitter" non issue; perhaps Hillary finally figured out what the: "Small Town-Bitter" Web Poll showed. 70% Agreed; 28% Disagreed or uncertain.
If that didn't come across on the 3:00 AM call last night, listen tonight. Nationwide Gallop Poll: Obama 52% Clinton 40%. Highest % for Obama yet. Obama 08.

Aslan,

I refute your assertion that Clinton's campaign has been run poorly. She finds herself running up against a media contrived "Messiah" tapping into the collective emotions of a "movement". I believe that Mrs. Clinton has done an extraordinary job remaining as close to him as she has.

I also believe that Mrs. Clinton is running against a collective effort by the media to drive her campaign in obscurity. The breakdown of coverage on positive aspects of her campaign compared to Oblameless is dumbfounding.

So, IMO, I believe Mrs. Clinton has run a strong and impressive campaign. She has done so against the party elites and the media at large.

Did she just mention 9/11? Oh gawd. Play on peoples fears. Rovian tactic #1.

to CH:

Hillary didn't win Texas-- Obama came out post-caucus with a NET delegate advantage over Clinton.

And in reference to 'big' states like CA, NY, and NJ-- they vote democratic every election, and if Obama were the nominee, he would carry those states as well, with flying colors--- your arguments don't hold true against educated folks.

Hillary backed off "bitter" because it wasn't working!

It will be interesting to watch the debate tomorrow night, though I am hoping us West Coast folks will be able to stream live rather than wait for prime time here. Will Hillary "throw the kitchen sink" and sink her campaign? Or will she repeat previous performances and go for the tie?

Either way, it's looking like a concession speech is in the offing. So, West Coast Mess and Dogsoldier, you'll be singing a different tune soon!

Obama 2008 -- Yes, WE CAN

It's becoming very suspicious that cable news networks, such as MSNBC, simply "make up the news" as they go along, much like they do say, in the old Soviet Union, East Germany or Cuba. It's a weird feeling watching these supposed journalists talk and say "people are tired of hearing about Obama's bitter remark" and "people don't care about Rev. Wright"...blah,blah,blah, but OBAMA IS SO WONDERFUL!!! And then they put up these polls that say Obama is leading in PA by 3 points!!! "Bittergate" helped Obama! What? Back to the all obama all praise all the news about the great Obama all the time...how many BILLIONAIRES does it take to buy all this positive media coverage? Or are they afraid of Hamas or some other nefarious influences?hmmmmm..let's see who his friends are again....hmmmmm

Obama doesn't deserve the Presidency and he is too inexperienced to be the leader of The Free World. The Presidency deserves better. I won't vote for him. Period. Hillary is the best choice.

And I will vote for McCain if I have to choose between Obama and McCain if I have to because Obama would be a danger to us if he were sitting in the Oval Office. First I am for our Country. Then for the party. Those are my priorities. I am not going to vote for him just because he may get the nomination of the Democratic Party.

I like milk but I would not drink a cup of it if it were sour.

Stephen Wilson is calling Bill Clinton a liar about the national debt, but Clinton is telling the truth.
Wilson clearly does not understand the difference between the national debt and the deficit [probably the only reason he can say nice things about Republican Presidents].
So that Wilson does not confuse others here;
The Reagan/Bush years were run on borrowed money [making US a debtor nation] and left us with a HUGE debt. Clinton [and the Democrats, without a SINGLE Republican vote] passed a budget that was in balance and so got rid of the deficit and BEGAN to pay down the HUGE debt left behind by the Republicans. But Clinton could not completely pay down the HUGE debt left by the Republicans. He did not add to it, in fact, he got rid of some of it.
THEN George W. Bush and the Republicans came into office and threw the budget back into deficit. This INCREASED the National Debt once again.

H. Aslan Aslani-Far - FL and MI? That is an absolute line in the sand for Clinton supporters. You on the Obama side can choose to disenfranchise FL and MI but not us. Now, those of us on the Clinton side are absolutely holding Obama in place and that's not even counting republicans at this stage. He cannot win the democratic primary outright and the same with Hillary. Now, should Hillary lose then who do you think we're going to support and why?

what is the point of national polls now? 3/4 of the country has already voted!!! and, as Hillary is behind by less than 1% of the popular vote those people who say they support Obama now had their chance and didn't take it! These are the polls that are shown over and over again on cable news and Obama TV...The most recent Pa. poll with Hillary up 20% barely got a mention...she has done very well in spite of the media's love affair with BO.. and he has shown that he hasn't been able to seal the deal..what more does he need? more favorable press? more money??? show me a collective poll of the states yet to vote and I'm sure it will be MUCH closer

If Hillary isn't on the ballot then she will be a write in vote for me..I cannot pull the trigger on a vote for Mc Cain but I have to express my anger with the DNC and the media somehow..4 years is not such a long time...

Aslan,

The media initially was on Obama for the Wright issue but quickly tried to move beyond it. The media's portrayal of the Bosnia flap was way out of bounds. It was a symptom of the media and Obama having nothing more significant to throw at her. The Penn thing and the Colombia issue both did nothing to hurt her.

Aslan, the media wants to kill Hillary's chances of becoming the nominee. If they accomplish this, they will absolutely skewer Obama in the general and its bush 3 all over again.

100 Pennsylvania Mayors came out in support of Hillary Clinton today. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how many Mayors are supporting barrack?

H. Aslan Aslani-Far - Read the article friend and you will see why Pennsylvanians are angry, why they buy guns, why they go to church, and why they hate those pesky foreigners. Obama said Pennsylvanians were left out under the Clinton administration. And why the PA folks were so "bitter."

Maureen - a soldier in Iraq might beg to differ.

Aslan,

what prompted the race speech? It was his 20 yr. relationship with a controversial pastor! JUDGMENT my friend! He should have never needed to make a speech on Race. We don't need a speech on race. He needs to explain why he spent Sundays exposing his children to a hate filled, racist pastor.

Regarding the Bosnia Flap, Hillary wrote about it her book. Why the hell would she lie about it. It wasnt a lie but ofcourse, was characterized as such by the media.

Lastly, If any rebublican praises Obama it is only because they much rather square off against him in the General.

Alsan, you and I need to agree to disagree. See you back hear after Pa. We will re-evaluate the state of the race at that point. Gotta go to the gym. Good Day.

H ..you are naive if you think we are going to be out of Iraq any time soon no matter who the president is..I don't know too many military families but those I do know all support McCain...go figure

West Coast Messenger is right....It is elitist to use lawyers instead of votes to win an election.

The deal is not that Clinton is "evil" and Obama is "good". Despite a tremendous marketing campaign and control of the MSM Obama is still only getting half the Democratic Party....The problem is that the polls are not reality.

There are lots of people in MN and TX and WI that would vote for Hillary instead of Obama just because of Wright...I know some of them.

Wright is not really going away just because the "polls" say it has....Rezco is not going anywhere and there are new revelations every day that Obama is lying....His comments were "unscripted" they were exactly what he said.

He said that people in small town America were Bible toting...gun clinging anti-immigrant bigots. These comments have been repeatedly cropped leaving out the last half in a multitude of MSM locations...and Obama continues to spin their meaning.

The thing is some people mainly the undecided heard them...

The polls aren't really explainging that the Hillary backers...Republicans...and undecided are all going with McCain...Unless of course Obama is able to smear him like he's been smearing Hillary the whole time.

Anybody but Obama!

For those of you who are Hillarys supporters maybe you will want to read the whole story behind the Bitter remark, Then you may see you have been Duked... so plaeas read

David Coleman..

I Was There: What Obama Really Said About Pennsylvania
Last Sunday evening I attended the San Francisco fundraiser that has been the center of recent political jousting. The next day, when asked about the talk Obama delivered, I too commented about his answer to a question he was asked about Pennsylvania. Over the past week, though, I have had a Rashomon-like experience concerning those remarks.

Clinton, McCain, and media pundits have parsed a blogger's audio tape of Obama's remarks and criticized a sentence or two characterizing some parts of Pennsylvania and the attitudes of some Pennsylvanians. In context and in person, Senator Obama's remarks about Pennsylvania voters left an impression diametrically opposed to that being trumpeted by his competitor's campaigns.

At the end of Obama's remarks standing between two rooms of guests -- the fourth appearance in California after traveling earlier in the day from Montana -- a questioner asked, "some of us are going to Pennsylvania to campaign for you. What should we be telling the voters we encounter?"
Obama's response to the questioner was that there are many, many different sections in Pennsylvania comprised of a range of racial, geographic, class, and economic groupings from Appalachia to Philadelphia. So there was not one thing to say to such diverse constituencies in Pennsylvania. But having said that, Obama went on say that his campaign staff in Pennsylvania could provide the questioner (an imminent Pennsylvania volunteer) with all the talking points he needed. But Obama cautioned that such talking points were really not what should be stressed with Pennsylvania voters.

Instead he urged the volunteer to tell Pennsylvania voters he encountered that Obama's campaign is about something more than programs and talking points. It was at this point that Obama began to talk about addressing the bitter feelings that many in some rural communities in Pennsylvania have about being brushed aside in the wake of the global economy. Senator Obama appeared to theorize, perhaps improvidently given the coverage this week, that some of the people in those communities take refuge in political concerns about guns, religion and immigration. But what has not so far been reported is that those statements preceded and were joined with additional observations that black youth in urban areas are told they are no longer "relevant" in the global economy and, feeling marginalized, they engage in destructive behavior. Unlike the week's commentators who have seized upon the remarks about "bitter feelings" in some depressed communities in Pennsylvania, I gleaned a different meaning from the entire answer.
First, I noted immediately how dismissive his answer had been about "talking points" and ten point programs and how he used the question to urge the future volunteer to put forward a larger message central to his campaign. That pivot, I thought, was remarkable and unique. Rather than his seizing the opportunity to recite stump-worn talking points at that time to the audience -- as I believe Senator Clinton, Senator McCain and most other more conventional (or more disciplined) politicians at such an appearance might do -- Senator Obama took a different political course in that moment, one that symbolizes important differences about his candidacy.

The response that followed sounded unscripted, in the moment, as if he were really trying to answer a question with intelligent conversation that explained more about what was going on in the Pennsylvania communities than what was germane to his political agenda. I had never heard him or any politician ever give such insightful, analytical responses. The statements were neither didactic nor contrived to convince. They were simply hypotheses (not unlike the kind made by de Tocqueville three centuries ago ) offered by an observer familiar with American communities. And that kind of thoughtfulness was quite unexpected in the middle of a political event. In my view, the way he answered the question was more important than the sociological accuracy or the cause and effect hypotheses contained in the answer. It was a moment of authenticity demonstrating informed intelligence, and the speaker's desire to have the audience join him in a deeper understanding of American politics.
There has been little or no reaction to the part of the answer that was addressed to the hopelessness of inner city youth who have been rendered "irrelevant" to the global economy. No one has seized upon those words as "talking down" to the inner city youth whose plight he was addressing. If extracted from an audio tape HuffPost Blogger Fowler, those remarks could (and may yet) be taken out of context as "Obama excuses alienation and violence by urban youth." But in context, Senator Obama's response sounded like empathetic conclusions and opinions of a keen observer: more like Margaret Mead than Machiavelli.

As the week's firestorm evolved over these remarks at which I was an accidental observer, I have reflected upon the regrettable irony that has emerged from Senator Obama's response to a friendly question: no good effort at intelligent analysis, candor -- and what I heard as an attempt to convey a profound understanding of both what people feel and why they feel it - goes unpunished. Such insights by a political candidate might otherwise be valued. In a national campaign subject to opposition research, his analytical musing has instead created an immense amount of political flak.

Now and "in this time," to invoke one of the candidate's favorite riffs, such observations and remarks shared among supporters are just a push of a record button on a tape recorder away from being spread across the internet to be dissected by political nabobs. What struck me immediately after the fundraiser as so refreshing turned out to be a moment Senator Obama is forced to regret. Today we marvel at de Tocqueville insights about American communities. Apparently, such commentary is valued as long as it is three centuries old and doesn't come from the mouth of a contemporary observer who might be elected president
I happened to be on the balcony when Senator Obama's vehicles arrived and he emerged from the Secret Service SUV. Obama shouted the friendly greeting "How are you guys up there doing?" to the group of us looking down from the balcony and then said, "You have to excuse me, I need to call my kids in Chicago now." All of us stood and watched the leading candidate for the Democratic party nomination for president have a short conversation with his kids before he entered a fundraiser to make his remarks
No tape of that conversation has emerged as yet. Who knows how casual remarks of a father to his children or his wife on a cell phone could be spun to support the argument that as a father speaking to his kids two time zones away before they go to bed, his comments sounded as if he "looked down" upon them. Given his relative height and the age of his kids, he probably does. But that would be precisely as relevant to his capacity to unite and lead this country as were the remarks at the fundraiser that have been so deconstructed over this past week.

H... we will not be leaving Iraq until the oil fields are up and running and able to supply us (US) with vast amounts of liquid gold...I appreciate the history lecture...I'm well aware of the difference between WWII and the battle against stateless insurgents...this war is not about taking down Sadam or bringing democracy to Iraq...it's about the money.. no matter how the powers that be try to sugar coat it to make it palatable to the voters...so yes, I agree that we need to get out asap but I believe that it's not gonna happen...therefore, my vote will be a personal one, a protest, the only way I can make my voice heard, other than with my pocketbook...

Ron...it seems to me that when people have no response to the message they tend to attack the messenger...so, what's your point? I assume you have one since your post is so angry..by the way, as far as commas go, "when in doubt, leave it out"..you didn't emerge from our education system unscathed. Blogs are conversation, not essays.

I can! The people of Texas spoke for OBAMA!!! Yes, perhaps I am the college educated, stupid Obama supporter that the media will claim, but I know truth when I see it!! While Hillary was dodging sniper fire, SHOOTING DUCKS (PLEASE!!!), she was sitting back while her husband was doing whatever he pleased (if you know what I mean). This woman can't run her own campaign and she claims to be able to run our economy??? I can not help but be astonished by you Hillary supporters. Her main man (Penn) is running deals with the Columbians while she is opposed to those trade deals??? THINK!!! This is not the Clinton from the 90's, she can't even think for herself. Listen to reason.

My husband has relatives in Pennsylvania, we spoke to them on Sunday. They 'were' Clinton supporters and said that because of the attacks on Obama they are switching to Obama (they said several of their neighbors are doing the same) Their reasoning- "It felt like what the Republicans did to Kerry in 04, and we don't need that from a democrat"

I truly hope that Hillary wins the nomination, because if she does'nt the democratic party will lose not only my vote, but also the Latino Vote in general, which because of it's tendency to back canidates and not parties, has decided the last 2 elections.