So it must be true, right?

Along with the magic ponies!! :-)

that forcing her out will cause far more damage than an extended campaign will?

If she loses in an primary campaign that is perceived as fair, her supporters will back Obama in the general election.

But many of those supporters will feel differently if they think she (and they) were cheated.

Of course Florida and Michigan already feel that way.

The Agonist needs help.

Could it be that Obama's "inevitability" and "lead" depend greatly on disenfranchising Florida and Michigan. Jerome Armstrong does the math - http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/27/194947/250. If Hillary gets Michigan and Florida seated as is, which Obama has left open due to his failure to agree to revotes, then Obama could lead by as few as 46 pledged delegates right now (of course, there are still those 55 uncomitted Michigan delegates and 31 Edwards delegates out there). Regardless, given the upcoming primary schedule, Obama is probably in the strongest position he's going to be in to claim the nomination and his supporters know it.

And I'm sure you've see it, but here's Hillary sounding very strong on Michigan and Florida and essentially daring the Democratic Party, including guys like Leahy, to refuse to seat the two important swing states.

The most fun about this whole WWTSBQ watch is seeing guys like Matthew Yglesias and Markos lecture Hillary Clinton, who has helped run more than half a dozen campaigns including two successful ones for president, about how she just doesn't understand the political realities of this campaign. The video sure doesn't look like a woman who doesn't understand politics. I'd agree that Obama remains the favorite, but if Hillary believes she's still in this thing, then I'd say she's still in this thing.

But many of those supporters will feel differently if they think she (and they) were cheated.

Of course Florida and Michigan already feel that way.

Hey, if I were a michigan voter and was cheated of the option of voting for edwards or obama and now found that the election that the DNC told me was not going to count might actually be counted, I'd be pissed.

the louder come the demands that Hillary quit. Nobody wants to admit they made a mistake by backing Obama so early and so blindly. Way back when, we were told that Obama would win easily in a general, so everyone should support him because he -- unlike Hillary -- "had no baggage," could "appeal to independents," and so on, and so on, and so on. Now, Obama has his own baggage -- and for all we know this is the tip of the iceberg, as he still hasn't been vetted like Clinton has -- while his "appeal to independents" is looking shakier and shakier, and so we are all told we have to support him because otherwise this one-time "sure thing" will lose the general, and it will all be Hillary's fault, not their own for going apeshit overboard for a guy nobody knew anything about, and few people still know anything about, a guy with practically no meaningful experience on the national stage, who is looking to run against a four term Senator.

There's still time for the DP to look things over and go in another direction; these calls for Hillary to get out are about as crazy as the decision many of these people made to throw their lot in with Obama before they knew squat about him to begin with.

and if he was smart he'd be actually running to win PA, which really would kill Clinton's chances.

has been nothing but a disappointment in this: they did not have to take side, but the leadership could have stood up to the rampant sexism, and they didn't.

With respect to the media, they should have stood up for BOTH (heck, for all three of them when Edwards was still in the race) of them.

Now, the leadership has its own favorite and doesn't have a problem screwing the voters or lecturing them as to what they should do.I don't have a problem with individual senators or reps choosing side. I have a BIG problem with the party leadership calling for HRC to withdraw.

When Democratic leadership favors Hillary Clinton, it's a monstrous machine that must be stopped.

When Democratic leadership favors Barack Obama, it's a sign that his time has come.

Thanks, VL. Or is it

When Democratic leadership favors Barack Obama, they are responding to the will of the people.

Carville came out and said Richardson had promised the endorsement to her.

I don't understand why so many men - Patrick Leahy, Keith Olbermann, the Blogger Boyz - don't seem to understand that these demands that Clinton quit to make way for Obama are more likely to piss off Clinton supporters, particularly women, and make it that much harder to unite the party. It's one thing if your candidate loses. It's another to watch a bunch of establishment men drive her from the race to make the way for their guy. Are they so used to this dynamic, so used to getting their own entitled way, that they can't see why it's more likely to lead to resentment and resistance than capitulation? They can make all the shows of dominance they want, but they - and we - aren't gorillas. They must know she's not going to quit before Pennsylvania. Are they so desperate to suppress her vote that they're willing to risk a backlash that could extend to the GE?

Because it seems to me all they are accomplishing is creating a lot of hard feelings about their candidate. Unless they think it's a good thing when women start to compare their tactics to domestic violence.* See this thought provoking post by Anglachel here. And from commenter dianem at Talk Left on whether Josh Marshall has denied the media has been harsher on Clinton:

Marshall agrees that the media have been hard on Clinton. What he disagrees with is the idea that they have been unfairly harsh on her. Even the most anti-Clinton partisans don't pretend that the media have not been harsh on Clinton. They simply hate Clinton so much that they see any attacks on her as justified, while they admire Obama so much that they see any attacks on him as unjustified. It's an interesting twist. Along the lines of "Yes, he beats her regularly, but she deserves it".

* NOTE -- just to be clear, my point is not to start a discussion on whether or not the tactics being used by Obama's supporters mirror aspects of domestic violence. My point is that the fact that women are starting to compare the tactics to domestic violence isn't a good sign and, to me, is a signal that these tactics risk severely alienating some women voters. So unless his supporters are really desperate, they need to knock it off for the good of their candidate.

I hold him personally responsible for me having to work late tonight instead of going to happy hour with some interesting people I met yesterday. There is no excuse for Obama causing me to miss this happy hour. For the sake of the Democratic Party and the good of the country, Obama should drop out and put his ambitions aside. Oh yeah, and some people are scared of democracy. He should drop out because of that too.

"Hopium" would be such an apt term.

"... The percentage of Americans believing Obama's a Muslim ranges from 14% among Republicans, to 10% among Democrats, to 8% among independents. At the risk of repeating one of those misleading triple-loaded poll findings, 23% of white Democrats with an unfavorable opinion of Obama think he's a Muslim.

Moreover, a third of poll respondents--and a third of Democrats--say they don't know what religion Barack Obama observes. ..." -- http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/s...

Even after all this recent and ongoing shit...

That's what bothers the hell out of me: they just flat-out lie. The nomination is essentially tied, with the only way Obama getting the nomination on the first ballot is by disenfranchising MI and FL, and the superdelegates--whose purpose is to pick the stronger GE candidate--ultimately deciding who's the nominee.

Do these fuckers not understand that we are guaranteed to lose with Obama?! In addition to Wright and MI & FL, we'd have a truly unvetted candidate with worrisome lack of support from working class whites and (especially) Latinos, and one who has utterly failed to prove himself even qualified to be a serious presidential candidate. And that's all before the corporate media gets their hands on his blank canvas of a candidacy to throttle the bastard for being a Democrat--who's running against John Motherfuckin' McCain! I'm telling you: it'll be Tawana Brawley vs. John Wayne.

I can't tell whether Leahy and the other Fuckers Extraordinaire are beyond delusional or Republican cylons posing as Democrats.

McClatchy DC

Obama tackles Pennsylvania as supporters urge Clinton to drop out

PITTSBURGH — Barack Obama kicked off a six-day bus tour of Pennsylvania on Friday, working to narrow Democratic primary rival Hillary Clinton's statewide lead enough to reaffirm his national front-runner status after racial tensions put his candidacy in a tailspin.

As Obama supporters ratcheted up pressure on Clinton to bow out, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., joined Obama onstage at the Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum in Pittsburgh to offer his unexpected endorsement ahead of the April 22 primary.

Casey, a freshman senator, is an abortion opponent who comes from a prominent Pennsylvania political family and could help Obama with white, more socially conservative Democrats. Casey said the biracial first-term senator from Illinois represents "a story infused with the promise of America" and that "he can heal us, he can help us rebuild America."

The common denominator of all Obama's super-d's is that they all revert to Unity-speak. I think if you asked each and everyone what specifically he has done to inspire such lofty talk, they wouldn't be able to tell you.

Personally, I didn't think Casey would endorse Clinton after what happened at the 1992 Convention.

Open Left has become another fine Obama 527--

What those remaining undeclared folks are telling me in private, though, is that they hope the race will play itself out and Obama will emerge as the clear winner so that they don't have to piss the Clintons and their machine off. . . . I am encouraging my friends to come out of their political closet. If all the superdelegates and other influential friends that I have talked to who believe that the best path for the party is for Obama to win a clear victory would come out in is favor, this thing really would be over.

(H/T TalkLeft)

But, I thought the Damned Democrats would want to WIN this one instead of being misogynists,.... my bad.

I can’t tell whether Leahy and the other Fuckers Extraordinaire are beyond delusional or Republican cylons posing as Democrats.

How about, they disagree with you and your judgement is not infallible?

Considered that possibility?

a couple of my family said they wouldn't vote for her because she didn't leave Bill. What kind of nonsense is that?!
I'm baffled because compared to Obama, Hillary is clearly the only choice. Go figure.....

Via Talk Left, Russ Feingold talks some sense

The fight for the Democratic nomination for president has gotten personal in recent days, but U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold is urging calm.

"I'll tell some of the (Barack) Obama supporters here today: Cool it," Feingold, D-Middleton, said Wednesday to a group of about 50 people at the University of Wisconsin Marathon County. "Take it a little easy."

The campaigns of Sens. Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York have exchanged blows in recent weeks, and aides to each campaign have resigned after making controversial statements. At UWMC, Feingold aimed his censure at Obama supporters, saying their purpose should not be to "crush" Clinton, but at other times, he seemed to take aim at both campaigns' rhetoric.

As for that Mike Lux post, I'm with BTD, it doesn't even make any sense. Mike, the reason the Supers aren't coming out of the closet is they want Obama to win this thing outright. Left unsaid is whether they will support him if he doesn't. They may want to support him, but he'd make it a whole lot easier by, you know, winning the thing instead of demanding they step in and win it for him by stopping the contest.

Why didn't these people stop the misogyny when they should have? Did they not no that women would take offense?

I usually love Fiengold, but why didn't he speak up before the Obama dissed women in general and all other ethnics?

This was posted on the NY Times Caucus Web site just after 7 PM:

Clinton Says She’s in It for the Long Haul

To answer questions that have been swirling around her candidacy all day, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived here in northwest Indiana – just a few miles from her Democratic rival’s home on Chicago’s South Side – to unequivocally say she has no intention of leaving the presidential race.

“There are millions of reasons to continue this race: people in Pennsylvania and Indiana and North Carolina and all of the contests yet to come,” Mrs. Clinton said. “This is a very close race and clearly I believe strongly that everyone should have their voices heard and their votes counted and that includes Michigan and Florida.”

Then, she added: “There is a lot still to be done and I’m looking forward to campaigning hard over the next several months.”

And as she points out (emphasis mine)

It is worth remembering, Mrs. Clinton said, that neither she nor Mr. Obama will win enough pledged delegates to become the nominee. “I think that’s a very important fact,” she said.

“Superdelegates should exercise their right and their responsibility to determine who they think would be the best president and who would be the best nominee to defeat John McCain in the fall,” Mrs. Clinton said. “That’s the way our process is set up. That’s the way it will operate.”

Good for her. Not that it will stop Leahy, Dodd and the other Obama super-d's who are fretting that she won't drop out.

check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQQkh_OSA48

Thank You!!! FrenchDoc !!!