Dowd is a Class-A loon. The New York Times should be ashamed to have a commenter whose raison d'etre is to shift the campaign away from ideas and policies and towards personalities. Fictionalized personalities at that!

Posted at August 20, 2008 3:07 PM in response to Maureen Dowd speculates that Bill Clinton started the Russia-Georgia conflict to help McCain

Is there any doubt who the people of the Democratic Party would vote for? Is there any doubt who their elected representatives, the delegates, would vote for? Only people who fear democratic outcomes would oppose this measure.

Posted at August 20, 2008 12:59 PM in response to VP: Let the Delegates Decide

Example of how Senator Obama is responsible for his current position: the Berlin speech. As a Clinton supporter who moved over to Obama after she withdrew, I was excited about it. What a great thing for our country, to renew our ties to Europe after Bush. But that was my reaction as a Democrat. Apparently, the speech backfired among Republicans and independents, as McCain used it to paint Obama as the "celebrity" candidate. In retrospect the speech seems like something inherently appealing to Democrats, who favor internationalism, rather than the broader electorate.
He opted for this grand show which I loved, when he should be out there in Pennsylvania and Ohio talking to small crowds about how he is going to help them with their daily needs-- healthcare and the economy.
None of this is Hillary Clinton's fault.

Posted at August 20, 2008 12:50 PM in response to Hillary Won!!!

The flaw in your argument (it's all Hillary's fault!) is that Obama's current (and hopefully temporary) weakness in the polls came more than TWO MONTHS after Clinton conceded and announced her support for Obama. He was riding high for a while there, until McCain's campaign came up with this new wave of attacks, and spent money advertising them.
This effort to blame Clinton for Obama's position, and the pre-emptive effort to blame her in case he loses (saying her career will be over, etc) is a flight from responsibility. I'm sorry, but in politics you have opponents, both within your party and across the aisle. It is demeaning to Senator Obama to treat him as a powerless person who has no responsibility for fighting his opponents. Win or lose in November, it will be his efforts that determine the outcome.

Posted at August 20, 2008 12:38 PM in response to Hillary Won!!!

Please don't put words in my mouth. Mmmmmhmmmm.
Hillary's defeat is her own defeat.
The older women in Ohio who are not as yet supporting Obama in the poll are not PUMAs. PUMAs are a very small group of activists who have formed a militant group agitating for their preferred candidate. The women of Ohio we are talking about are run of the mill voters whose votes people supporting Obama should want to recruit. All this moral posturing of the "there is no reason to reach out to them" variety is childish nonsense.
It is normal, right, and proper in politics to build coalitions. That means compromising in order to recruit support. If Hillary Clinton supporters hold the margin of victory, and this is the most important election of our lifetime, then the ones standing in the way of her being chosen as VP are the real impediments here.

Posted at August 18, 2008 11:22 PM in response to Poll: McCain Pulls Even With Obama In Ohio, But...

I think the gain is greater than the loss. Most anti-Clinton people are either Republicans, who will vote for McCain anyway, or pro-Obama, who will vote for Obama no matter what.

Posted at August 18, 2008 11:43 AM in response to Poll: McCain Pulls Even With Obama In Ohio, But...

When people don't support your candidate, you're supposed to think of ways to get them to support your candidate, not try to out do each other in the variety of ways you insult them.

In 1960, JFK chose his bitter primary rival, Lyndon Johnson, precisely because he wanted to build a winning coalition. Those who denounce the analogous step today are the ones standing in the way of a clear path to victory. And it is no use saying Hillary Clinton's career will be over if Senator Obama loses. His victory will be his own or his defeat will be his own. That is the way it works in the grown up world.

Posted at August 18, 2008 11:19 AM in response to Poll: McCain Pulls Even With Obama In Ohio, But...

My comment above is directed at JTHB.

As for the Clinton/McCain chart, I think it is a ridiculous effort to condemn Clinton for doing what any other politician would have done in a primary. As such it is of a piece with the double standard that the press has used against the Clintons for 16 years. It is a shame to see such inside the Beltway, conventional wisdom tripe appear on TPM.

Posted at August 15, 2008 12:06 AM in response to McCain Recycling Hillary's Old Attacks Against Obama

Vile racist comments.

Posted at August 14, 2008 11:35 PM in response to McCain Recycling Hillary's Old Attacks Against Obama

It is called hyperbole, a rhetorical device familiar to people who have attended junior high school . The device is used to colorfully illustrate a point-- in this case, that a proper respect for democratic procedure demands that the names of both candidates, each representing approximately half of the party, be placed in nomination.
Now we see that Senator Obama agrees with my view, as the two campaigns have agreed that such a roll call vote shall take place. He and his supporters will enjoy the moment of victory. It is always enjoyable to defeat one's opponents.

Posted at August 14, 2008 2:43 PM in response to Hillary's Convention Game Plan...