It’s sure to be a classic. One you can wear proudly through whichever nightmare befalls us the next four years.

Hillary’s T-Shirt

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What a dufus. Senator Clinton run from this man. We’ll pay off your debt. But run as far as you can from this man.

Jonathan Martin on Politico notes the following:

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may have presented a unified image last night in New York, but tensions between supporters of the two candidates continue to simmer.

For many Obama backers, it’s a tough pill to swallow to help retire the debt Clinton incurred largely to stay in the race and pound away at the eventual nominee after it became clear he would win.

For true-blue Obama loyalists, therefore, any request for money these days is being closely examined.

To this end, when Ed Chandler, a Chicago venture capitalist and Obama donor, sent out an e-mail last week promoting an intimate dinner with the nominee for high-dollar donors he made clear to specify where the dollars were going.

“NONE OF THE MONEY RAISED WILL GO TO PAY OFF HILLARY CLINTON’S DEBTS,” Chandler wrote to potential givers in an e-mail obtained by Politico. “While you may have heard that Sen. Obama has asked people to make a separate donation to the Clinton campaign for that purpose, neither the law, nor the ethic of this campaign, will allow for any transfer of funds from Obama For America to Clinton.”

Money raised beyond the individual limits, Chandler notes, will instead go to the DNC.

Is there a point as why we should raise money for Obama?

The story on Barack getting carried away (with himself) from United Press International:

Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama almost forgot to ask donors to help relieve former rival Hillary Clinton’s campaign debt at a fundraiser.

The former rivals agreed on a plan to help one another, in which Obama would urge donors to help relieve about $10 million of Clinton’s campaign debt while Clinton would help raise funds for the Illinois senator’s presidential bid, CNN reported.

Obama nearly forgot his half of the agreement at a joint New York fundraiser Wednesday when he walked off the stage without mentioning Clinton’s need for help, the report said.

“Hold on a second guys, I was getting all carried away. I’ve got one more thing that is important to do,” Obama said when he reappeared a few minutes after his exit. “Senator Clinton still has some debt. And I could have had some debt if I hadn’t won so I know the drill.”

Obama went on to urge donors to help Clinton as “part of the process of making sure that we are unified moving forward.”

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Democrats voting in favor of final passage of the FISA bill:

Bayh - Carper - Casey - Conrad - Dorgan - Feinstein - Innuoye - Kohl - Landrieu - Lincoln - McCaskill - Mukulski - Nelson (Neb.) - Nelson (Fla.) - Obama - Pryor - Rockefeller - Salazar - Webb - Whitehouse.

I am frankly stunned by Sheldon Whitehouse’s betrayal on FISA.

Democrats voting against final passage of the FISA bill:

Akaka - Biden - Bingaman - Boxer - Brown - Cantwell - Cardin - Clinton - Dodd - Dorgan - Durbin - Feingold - Harkin - Kerry - Leahy - Levin - Lautenberg - Murray - Reed - Reid - Sanders - Schumer - Stabenow - Tester - Wyden.

Never forget who voted which way.

For the best coverage of the FISA debate, please read Glenn Greenwald’s column on Salon.

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CNN released a poll yesterday that many Clinton supporters were not yet embracing the candidacy of Barack Obama.

A growing number of Clinton supporters polled say they may stay home in November instead of casting their ballot for Obama, an indication the party has yet to coalesce around the Illinois senator four weeks after the most prolonged and at times divisive primary race in modern American history came to a close.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Friday, the number of Clinton supporters who plan to defect to Republican Sen. John McCain’s camp is down from one month ago, but — in what could be an ominous sign for Obama as he seeks to unify the party — the number of them who say they plan to vote for Obama is also down, and a growing number say they may not vote at all.

I think that’s accurate amongst the Clinton supporters I know. On my block in the Castro, one McCain sign has gone up (no, not at my home — my Clinton sign remains up and will remain up until at least 2009 if not beyond) compared to zero signs for Obama. Granted, Obama signs abound in the rest of San Francisco. Let us not forget the original kool aid drinkers back in 1978 were from San Francisco.

While I certainly view McCain increasingly favourable on a number of fronts, there are still plenty of issues that would keep me from voting for him. Wild horses couldn’t get me to support Obama. It is really more a matter of character though his support for the Bush Cheney Energy Policy and Obama’s close ties to the energy sector also keep me from supporting Obama even if character weren’t an issue. Examine Obama’s energy policies and look at his close relationship with energy lobbyists and you will likely arrive at the same conclusion.

Most Clinton supporters I know generally cite Obama’s character as to why they can’t support him. The lack of trust is often mentioned. Inexperience and his lack of qualifications are also cited. And as of late, his dizzying amounts of 180s on a whole host of issues only compound the lack of trust. And yet, few ever say “I am ready to vote for John McCain.” It’s more like “I am prepared to vote for John McCain to prevent an Obama Presidency.”

Here are the CNN poll results:

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey completed in early June before the New York senator ended her White House bid, 60 percent of Clinton backers polled said they planned on voting for Obama. In the latest poll, that number has dropped to 54 percent.

In early June, 22 percent of Clinton supporters polled said they would not vote at all if Obama were the party’s nominee, now close to a third say they will stay home.

In another sign the wounds of the heated primary race have yet to heal, 43 percent of registered Democrats polled still say they would prefer Clinton to be the party’s presidential nominee. That number is significantly higher than it was in early June, when 35 percent of Democrats polled said they preferred Clinton to lead the party’s presidential ticket.

Obama won 59 percent of support from registered Democrats polled in June; now he garners 54 percent.

(more…)

There is an update to the saga of Debra Bartoshevich, the Clinton delegate from Wisconsin who expressed that she would not vote for Barack Obama if were the nominee. Via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin filed a formal credentials challenge Wednesday against a Clinton delegate from the state who has publicly proclaimed her support for Republican John McCain in the general election.
The state party is asking the Democratic National Committee to unseat Debra Bartoshevich, an emergency room nurse from Racine County who was locally elected in May to be a delegate for Hillary Rodham Clinton at the party’s national convention in Denver in August.

In its challenge, the state party argued that Bartoshevich:

• Violated party rules in expressing support for the other party’s presumptive nominee.

• Violated party rules requiring that delegates be “bona fide Democrats who are faithful to the interests, welfare and success of the Democratic Party of the United States.”

• Failed to honor a pledge that delegates sign stating their intent to vote for the party’s presidential ticket in the fall.

The same challenge also stated that the “Democratic Party of Wisconsin and its members have been embarrassed in the local and national media by the decision of Ms. Bartoshevich to endorse Senator McCain.”

Frankly, I am embarrassed that a dangerously inexperienced and wholly unqualified 46 year old with no legislative accomplishments and no core convictions to call his own other than his own political welfare is the nominee of the Democratic Party. Thankfully, I am no longer a member of Democratic Party.

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“I am basically voting for Senator McCain because I am so disenchanted with the Democratic Party.”

I don’t think Obama and his supporters realize the depth of feelings and the antipathy that a large part of the Democratic voters hold towards Obama and the Democratic Party. And trying to blackmail us into voting for Obama by holding us hostages to Roe v Wade is frankly despicable. We are well aware of the repercussions of a McCain Presidency. We are also well aware of the repercussions of an Obama Presidency. As of now, I’ll take my chances with a McCain Presidency though I do not intend to vote for McCain. I may abstain.

That’s the thing about PUMA voters, we will each take our own path but what unites us is our opposition to the very junior Senator from Illinois.

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John Heilemann writes this week in the New York Magazine on the political legacy and new found political clout of Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton. The article is entitled The Fall and Rise of Hillary Clinton: What She Won By Losing. It is a compelling read. A few money quotes.

Albeit temporarily, the loser has more power than the winner. She, not Obama, is in a position to bring the party together or rip the thing to shreds. She, not he, has the capacity to orchestrate a merger of their warring factions of supporters.

My sense is that damage is done and it is not Clinton’s doing. If she can pull that miracle of re-uniting the party off, then she is more powerful and more astute than Obama. I may have to reflect on this more but my suspicion as to where to lay the blame of the demise of the Democratic Party lies in several quarters: the Obama campaign who ran a devisive campaign from the get go highlighted but not limited to by his “bittergate” comments that will have long-term repercussions for the Democratic Party, the media for turning women’s hopes into anger, the DNC leadership for disenfranchising the voters of Florida and Michigan. But in truth, the Democratic Party has long been divided against itself. It is an unworkable coalition led ostensibly by a liberal elite that is wholly ignorant of the party’s working class roots and largely out of touch with American values. In short, the Democratic Party is no longer what it once was, the party of FDR and LBJ. It is something else, the party of Barack Obama, Tom Daschle, John Kerry and Donna Brazile.

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Sacha Millstone is someone who lives her values. She is also a Clinton delegate from Colorado who plans to vote for Senator Hillary Clinton at the Democratic Convention in Denver and then quit the Democratic Party. Worried yet there Howard?

From the Denver Post:

Sacha Millstone is nobody’s sweetie.

The Democratic insider will stand up at August’s national convention and cast her vote for the candidate who suspended her bid on Saturday. And then Millstone will quit the party with which she is falling bitterly out of line.

“This isn’t sour grapes. This is about the best candidate losing the nomination because she’s a woman. It’s the most blatant example of sexism in our society. This is about the party breaking my trust, women’s trust. And that can’t be fixed,” she says.

Millstone hails the day in 2007 when Hillary Clinton announced she was smart enough, qualified enough and tough enough to be president.

“I had never heard those words come out of a woman’s mouth and neither had anyone else,” says the 49-year-old Boulder investment adviser who has spent 16 months volunteering on Clinton’s national finance committee.

She pounded the pavement for 20 days in Iowa. And she has raised more than $300,000 for the campaign.

The shattering of Millstone’s party loyalty came with what she deemed an all-out assault on Clinton “because she’s a woman.”

She winced when one biographer referred to Clinton’s “thick ankles.” She grumbled when NPR’s political analyst likened the senator to the scorned stalker in “Fatal Attraction.” And she grew incensed when talking-head Tucker Carlson said the mere sight of Clinton makes him “involuntarily cross my legs.”

(more…)

Via Seattle’s The Stranger:

In Washington State, Clinton’s 28 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver are, according to one of the group’s leaders, still waiting for a clearer sign from on high. Absent some further instructions from Clinton, these delegates all plan to vote for her, not Obama, at the convention in late August.

“We’re waiting for our cues from her,” Paul Berendt, the former state Democratic Party chair and current leader of the Clinton pledged delegate group, told me.

What’s going on here? In part, it seems to be a tactical maneuver, an attempt by a group of dedicated Clinton delegates to withhold their convention votes from Obama, for now, in an effort to pressure Obama into picking Clinton as his vice presidential nominee. “We’re hardcore in our belief that Hillary should be on the ticket as the vice president,” Berendt told me. Another member of the group, Linda Mitchell, head of the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington, said: “I need to wait and see what happens. Is Hillary the vice president?”

Another part of this, however, is lingering resentment among the Clinton delegates over what they feel was gross mistreatment of their candidate by the media and a lack of work by other Democrats to soothe their hurt feelings. Mitchell complained that the Clinton supporters felt “disrespected” and “invisible” at the Democrats’ state convention in Spokane the weekend of June 14. And Berendt told me, “Hillary Clinton was here and she stood for something… For people who are committed to her for reasons that were important, they don’t feel that’s been acknowledged. When that happens, I think you’ll see a beautiful renaissance of support in the Democratic Party for Barack Obama.”

Having Hillary Clinton as the Vice Presidential nominee will not bring me back to the fold. The issue is Obama. He’s unqualified to be President, simply put. No deal, sorry.

Dwight Pelz, the chair of the Washington State Democrats and an Obama-backing superdelegate, told me that he thinks the maneuvering of these Washington State Clinton delegates—who represent only about one-fourth of Washington’s 97 Democratic delegates—is “sound and fury which signifieth little.”

Apparently Dwight Pelz has never heard a PUMA roar. Frankly, our bite is worse than our roar.

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A new video from GeekLove of Come A Long Way.

The reasons not to support Obama are plentiful. Here are ten of mine:

1. Obama’s values are not mine. He is an effete liberal, I am a working class progressive.

2. Energy is in my view the most important issue confronting not just the United States but the world. Senator Obama voted for the Bush-Cheney Energy Policy. Obama is a big supporter of ethanol, which frankly, the worst alternative energy source available. For staters, ethanol has very low ROI, about 14%. It takes eight barrels of oil (BOEs) to produce nine BOEs. Obama is a strong proponent of more coal-fired energy plants and received more support from the oil & gas industry than any other candidate. That in an ad in Pennsylvania, he would claim that he doesn’t receive any money from oil & gas companies is but one example of how duplicitious he is. No one does because the Tillman Act in 1907 made it illegal yet he tried to pull a fast one as if he was “new and different.” He’s not. He panders more than the other candidates and frankly lies. Conceived at Selma?

3. He lacks any relevant foreign policy experience. Despite having oversight repsonsibility for Afghanistan, he has yet to call a subcommittee meeting to investigate why we are losing that critical war. His recent comments at AIPAC on Jerusalem’s status were in direct contradiction to long-standing US policy. Had he made that statement as President, he would have set off riots in the Middle East and increased the risk of Americans abroad being targeted by Islamic extremists. Precision in words on matters of foreign policy are paramount. Lives might depend on that.

4. His health care plan is not universal. It would only cover about 60% of those who lack health care coverage now.

5. His duplicitous relationship with lobbyists. It is a shell game. He says he does take money from Washington lobbyist but that’s a ruse because he gets others at those firms who are not Washington lobbyists to contribute.

6. His relationship to radical preachers including the Reverend Wright, the Reverend Meeks and Father Michael Pfleger, all of whom were “spiritual advisors” to Obama and his campaign.

7. His wanting to be all things to all people rather stand for any convictions he might have. Thus he can tell people in Boise that he won’t take their guns away and yet six weeks later tell his donors in San Francisco that he intends to close loopholes on the sale of weapons at gunshows.

8. His position on free trade and his lack of knowledge on economics generally. It is hard to figure to where he stands because he is all over the place. His views on NAFTA, is he for it or against it?

9. It concerns me that he is very sensitive to criticism and I worry about the nature of dissent under an Obama administration. In January 2008, Obama complained to CNN about their coverage and had James Carville and Paul Begala, two Clinton supporters, removed from the their roles as pundits. Senator Clinton got them restored after the Super Tuesday primaries. With a large portion rather pliant and openly pro-Obama, would they go after critics of Obama for expressing their views? Keith Olbermann did just that to Geraldine Ferraro, comparing her to David Duke. I view such attacks as an attempt to silence critics. Then there are his supporters who are not above calling people racists for not supporting Obama or commit acts of vandalism and sabotage. How many websites have been hacked?

10. His rather hypocritical stance on gay rights. He waxes eloquent on gay rights but when push comes to shove we get shoved under the bus. Thus he campaigns with Donnie McClurkin or has the Reverend James Meeks on his campaign staff. He refused to have his picture taken with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and has yet to march in a Gay Pride parade. He also rejected dozens of interview requests with the gay media before finally relenting to one with The Advocate.

I could go on all night, there are many more. Feel free to add others that prevent you from voting for Obama.

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