I saw this in Politico.com earlier, and now see that Josh has picked up on it on the front page:

McCain convention chief quits after past ties to Burma revealed

I found it interesting, because the departure of Doug Goodyear follows fast on the heals of the removal on April 30, of Ali Jawad, a "known Republican donor and former Bush finance committee member," from McCain's Michigan Finance Committee:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-mccain-hezb.html

It turns out that Goodyear did a fair amount of lobbying for the military junta that is currently in control of Myanmar (or what the Bushies prefer to call Burma), and which is currently blocking aid efforts for the one million desperately needy survivors of the recent cyclone devastation.

Ali Jawad, a "well known member of the Arab-American community in Dearborn", seems to have been rumored to have ties to Hezbollah, and although appears to have been unfairly attacked because of it, was removed from McCain's campaign.

This all comes at the same time that a story from the Washington Post has resurfaced in which McCain was quoted as being critical of Bill Clinton for going after Osama bin Laden, in 1998, suggesting that it was an attempt to merely divert attention from his personal problems:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) stressed the importance of a strong U.S. role in foreign affairs, and criticized the administration for ignoring problems other than bin Laden, including Iraq dragging its feet on arms inspections, "North Korea building nuclear weapons," a stalled Mideast peace process, and "thousands of people being ethnically cleansed in Kosovo.

"This administration for the last seven months has neglected compelling national security threats besides this," said McCain, a member of the Armed Services Committee. "I cannot say that they've been neglected because of Monica Lewinsky, but I can say unequivocally that they have been neglected."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/react082198.htm

This all begs the question, are we really afraid to go up against this guy in the fall?

Anyone seen Vicki Isemen lately?

Those who are pointing to West Virginia as any kind of example as to why Obama is unelectable should take heart in reading the lovely sentiments of the West Virginia demographic Hillary is holding up as one of her last remaining cards. Sounds like Obama won't be getting the endorsement of the West Virginia Coon Hunters anytime soon:

Hand-lettered campaign signs promoting Democrats running for family-court judge and assessor cluster along Hardy County's winding roads. There are only a few signs for either Obama or Clinton, but in one yard, a placard with a red slash on it mocks, "Osama, Obama and Chelsea's Mama."
The sign belongs to Eric Hardy, 38, a former Democrat who works at a woodworking plant. Now a die-hard Republican and president of the West Virginia Coon Hunters Assn., Hardy opposes any Democrat "who wants to go after my guns."
Obama "takes the cake," he said, "because of, you know, who he is." He suspects Obama for his "Muslim name," and comments by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., rankle him. "He's just a mistake any way you look at him," Hardy said.
How could anyone possibly think that this is about racism or bigotry?

Meanwhile, the bitter people don't agree that they are clinging to their guns, after all, they know what an American name sounds like:

"I've got 50-some guns, and I wasn't crazy about Obama's talk about small towns," said Sam Vetter, 64, a farmer and lifelong Democrat who regrets voting for Bush in 2000. "Besides," he added, "Obama just doesn't sound right for an American president."

Fortunately, we can look with hope towards the children of West Virginia to help build a brighter future:

Neil Gillies, an Obama supporter who runs a local environmental nonprofit group, glumly recounted the gibes that his wife, a schoolteacher, hears regularly from her students. "They're convinced [Obama] is a Muslim, a terrorist, a guy who's coming to take away their guns," Gillies said. "It's just sad."

As goes West Virginia, so goes the nation:

"There's a lot of bigotry in the country, not just West Virginia," See said.

And this is Hillary's argument as to why she is more electable?

For those of you whop have been following the Siegelman case, there's a new article out on a previously unknown investigation into the case that was subsequently shut down by the Justice Department:

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Office of Special Counsel last year shut down a previously undisclosed investigation into the federal prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, according to an internal memo made public Wednesday.

The investigation was being conducted by a task force formed at the agency a year ago to pursue high-profile political investigations in Washington, most notably whether the White House played politics in firing U.S. attorneys. It began gathering information on the Siegelman case in September and was planning to request documents from the Justice Department in October before Special Counsel Scott Bloch ordered the case closed, according to the Jan. 18 draft memo, made public by the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group.

Just up on Huffington Post:

Rahm Emanuel: Obama is Our Presumptive Nominee

One of the most influential (and thus far subdued) voices in the Democratic primary all but declared the contest over on Friday morning.

"At this point, Barack is the presumptive nominee," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel during the New Yorker's magazine conference. "Hillary can't win but something could happen that Barack could lose the nomination."

Article clipped by management. To read the entire article, click here.

Interesting news bit from Keith Olberman via his Daily Kos blog, and to appear on Countdown tonight:

 

Stupid details like this - renting a home in a different city, visiting a university to talk about a lecturing post, booking a vacation at a time when the world thinks you're supposed to be at the busiest - are often the staples of source reporting on anything.

But politically, BDS (Book Deal Syndrome) is one of the top pieces of circumstantial evidence that the tent is being folded, whether the candidate knows it or not. And at least one of Senator Clinton's big names is out there trying to get the proverbial big money for the proverbial big story.

The logic here is very simple. You do not do this if:

A) You believe your candidate (and thus you) are going to be otherwise employed until, say, the morning of January 20, 2017;

B) You believe your candidate (and thus you) are going to be fairly busy between now and, say, the early morning of November 5, 2008.

More over, you do not do this right now if:

C) You believe your candidate (and thus you) are going to be fairly busy after, say, May 20 or June 3 of this year.

One of my sources makes a fourth observation, namely that you also do not do this if:

D) You like your candidate or hope ever to work for him or her again.

I am not quite cynical enough to embrace this last point. It is absolutely plausible somebody on the inside would try to write a happy tale of the Clintons' bold, albeit simultaneously quixotic and toxic, struggle.

It just doesn't seem that any publisher would be likely to buy it. Except maybe Regnery.

Someday, I will write an actual post again, but until then, more excellent news:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10206.html

Obamamania sweeps the Hill

By RYAN GRIM | 5/8/08 1:25 PM EST
Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) was driving toward Washington Thursday morning when he got a call from Barack Obama. Brady asked Obama where he was and the man fast approaching 'presumptive nominee' status told him he was in the Senate.

Brady had an idea: Obama should pop on over to the House chamber and say hello. And that's just what the Illinois senator did.

Article clipped by management. To read the entire article click here.

In his BBC article today, pollster John Zogby claims that Obama will roll out 30 superdelegate endorsements in the next 48 hours.

Where do we go from here? My understanding is that probably today, but certainly within 48 hours, about 30 super-delegates will endorse Mr Obama. That should give him further momentum.

Read the entire article here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7387919.stm

George McGovern had previously endorsed Hillary. He's a longtime friend of the Clintons, and gave a young Bill his start in politics back around 1972 when McGovern ran against Nixon for the presidency. McGovern just announced that he is switching his endorsment to Obama, and is calling on Hillary to do the right thing and drop out of the race.

This is an excellent reminder of how this primary day will go, just as every other primary day has gone. An excellent essay by Al Giordano from The Field:

The Primary Day Ritual: Open Thread

By Al Giordano

Today marks the 47th and 48th primaries or caucuses for the Democratic presidential nomination. More than 90 percent of the delegates will have been chosen by tonight. By now, we all ought to know the drill.

The day begins with the Clinton campaign “leaking” something to the Drudge Report to set expectations for the day. That then gets repeated on political blogs and cable news, where Clinton surrogate Terry McAuliffe elaborates. Today’s “expectation”: That the Clinton campaign expects a “15 point” defeat in North Carolina. Clinton’s yapping puppies in the news media repeat the manufactured expectation all day long, in which the bar is supposedly now that if Clinton comes within 15 points in that state that she has somehow “won” with a 14 point (or 6 point) defeat.

Around 4 p.m. rumors of exit polls begin circulating on the Internet. Around 5:30 p.m. AP and other news organizations leak minor data from the exit polls that explains almost nothing of value. Sometime after 6 p.m. Drudge posts raw numbers from exit polls that - if past is prologue - show Obama doing an average of seven percentage points better than he actually does.

Obama supporters then get prematurely jubilant and after polls close (tonight at 7 p.m. ET in Indiana and 7:30 p.m. ET in North Carolina) the real results start to come in and reveal Clinton then doing “better than expected” (at least better than the new expectations promoted during the day).

The media talking heads then ask aloud why Obama can’t “close the deal” (in Clinton’s own words) and what is numerically a defeat for Clinton (because the results, even in her recent wins, bring her objectively farther from the nomination in the context of the smaller number of delegates then available) gets spun as a Clinton victory.

Clinton takes to the stage, claims “unexpected” victory, gives out her web site address and pleads for elder women on fixed incomes to send more money to the $109 millionaire. The following day they claim that $10 million rolled in, only to be disproved more than a month later when the actual FEC filing is due. Obama’s FEC filing simultaneously reveals that he raised much, much more, from more small donors, and the Clinton campaign plays the victim card over being outspent.

The Chicken Littles among Obama supporters then proceed to agonize across the Internet for days on end, seemingly oblivious to the fact that their candidate has just moved closer to the nomination, and Clinton was pushed farther away from it.

Most undeclared superdelegates duck behind all the media-generated confusion to continue to keep quiet, although a few courageous ones a day come dribbling out, more for Obama than for Clinton, also moving Obama closer to the nomination and Clinton farther away.

Meanwhile, the media then looks to the next state - this time it will be West Virginia, the best state demographically for Clinton, who is 30 points ahead there - and proclaims that it’s “do or die” and begin anew with the spin cycle about white Appalachian voters being the only voters that matter.

Around that point in the process, the Clinton campaign holds a conference call to move the goalposts again, as Keith Olbermann so masterfully explained last night:

In the 2000 presidential campaign Vice-President Al Gore had 120,000 individual donors to his effort.

In the 2004 presidential campaign John Kerry reached 500,00 individual donors by summer.

In 2008, Barack Obama has achieved 1.5 million donors by the campaign's target date of May 5.

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Congratulations to all of us!

Just up on Huffington Post, with video clip of Obama:

Is Obama headed to the O'Reilly Factor? It sure sounds like it, according to his interview this morning on Fox and Friends, where he claimed: "We're gonna see if we can fit it in." Of course, the last time he tried to make time for a Fox interview with Chris Wallace, it took two years for him to get there. Here's hoping for another 2-year wait.

Cue the fireworks....

Obama Camp Release on DNC Superdelegate Endorsement

DNC Superdelegate, INDN’s List Founder and USW (United Steelworkers) Associate Member Kalyn Free Endorses Senator Barack Obama for U.S. President

CHICAGO, IL  — Kalyn Free, an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee, today announced that she supports Illinois Senator Barack Obama for the party’s presidential nomination. As a DNC member, Free will serve as a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention. Free is also founder and President of INDN’s List, an organization dedicated to recruiting and training American Indian candidates.

California superdelegates' wavering bodes ill for Hillary Clinton  reads the headline of an article in today's Los Angeles times.

FRESNO -- Hillary Rodham Clinton, stung last week by the defection of a prominent superdelegate, could lose the backing of more of these Democratic Party leaders and elected officials if she fails to make significant gains in the remaining month of presidential nominating contests, several California superdelegates said this weekend.

Two of the five superdelegates aligned with Clinton who spoke at the annual California Democratic Convention here said they would reconsider their support if rival Barack Obama maintained his lead in elected delegates and the popular vote after the last contests on June 3.

Supporters of both Clinton and Obama have been lobbying the Clinton superdelegates to stick with Clinton, or attempting to get them to switch allegiance to Obama. Responses from Clinton's superdelegates varied, and some are waiting to see how the last few primaries play out before making a final decision. Obama's superdelegates, on the other hand, show no sign of wavering in their committment to the Illinois senator.

Christopher Stampolis of Santa Clara, a superdelegate who endorsed Clinton after the Iowa caucuses, said that he remained in the New York senator's camp but that his commitment expired with the end of the primaries.

"When it's done, all of us, whether we're committed or not, we're going to take a look" at the final eight contests, said Stampolis, who until recently worked in external relations for a Bay Area environmental firm. "Our job is to represent the constituents who trusted us to win the White House."

Let the Clinton Circus Sideshow continue! I first read this in this morning's New York Times column by Maureeen Dowd:

James Carville helpfully told Eleanor Clift of Newsweek that if Hillary gave Obama one of her vehicles of testicular fortitude, “they’d both have two.”

And now Huffington Post has picked up on the story that was originally printed in Eleanor Clift's May 2 Newsweek column:

"The Republicans will eat him alive" is what the Clinton campaign is telling the superdelegates. Hillary is the tougher of the two, the candidate you want on your side in a knife fight, a gender reversal that prompts Carville to indulge in some ribald humor: "If she gave him one of her cojones, they'd both have two."

So this is where we are in the level of discourse coming from the Clinton Camp? Welcome to today's new metric for winning. Forget everything else Superdelegates, according to James Carville, the only score that matters now is this one:

Hillary Testicles: 3
Obama: 1

Let the freakshow continue!

Let the Clinton Circus Sideshow continue! I first read this in this morning's New York Times column by Maureeen Dowd:

James Carville helpfully told Eleanor Clift of Newsweek that if Hillary gave Obama one of her vehicles of testicular fortitude, “they’d both have two.”

Louisville, Kentucky, sits right across the southern border from Indiana and reaches a large Indiana population. The Louisville Courier-Journal is also one of, if not the largest, newspapers serving Kentucky.

<blockquote>It's a difficult choice, but the better pick for Hoosier and Kentucky voters is Sen. Obama.</blockquote>

Today the Louisville Courier-Journal announced its endorsment of Barack Obama over his rival Hillary Clinton. It is a well-reasoned analysis, but in the end, Obama's positions and experience are seen as triumphing over Hillary's divisiveness and lack of ability to enact real change.

<blockquote>On health care, for example, we lean toward Sen. Clinton's insistence on mandating universal care. Sen. Obama, who focuses on reducing costs, is right that such a mandate would be costly and difficult to enforce, but too many people inevitably would fall between cracks and wind up uninsured.

On the other hand, we applaud Sen. Obama's opposition to a suspension of the federal gasoline tax, which Sen. Clinton favors. He is right that the move would save consumers little money, might be negated if oil companies raise prices and would encourage gasoline consumption instead of conservation.

Still, the differences are sufficiently minor that the key point becomes one that Sen. Obama stresses: Who is best able to actually accomplish new directions?

Sen. Obama's relentless focus on change, and the hordes of new voters he draws to the polls, would make it hard for his victory to be read as anything other than a mandate for changing how Washington works.

Sen. Clinton actually has engaged in more collaborative efforts with Republicans than she is given credit for. But she is battle-scarred, widely viewed as divisive and, we believe, would face a harder time enacting her program.</blockquote>

In the final analysis, it appears that Hillary's gas tax holiday is seen for the pointless pandering that it represents, and that Obama's ability to attract new blood to the Democratic Party and the mandate for change that this represents, make him the clear choice as the superior candidate.

38 years ago today, college students sought to protest an immoral and illegal war.

Killed (and approximate distance from the National Guard):

• Allison Krause 343 ft. (105 m); fatal left chest wound
• Jeffrey Glen Miller 265 ft. (81 m); shot through the mouth - killed instantly
• Sandra Lee Scheuer 390 ft. (119 m); fatal neck wound
• William Knox Schroeder 382 ft. (116 m); fatal chest wound

Wounded (and approximate distance from the National Guard):

• Thomas Mark Grace 225 ft. (69 m); struck in left ankle
• Joseph Lewis Jr. 71 ft. (22 m); hit twice in the right abdomen and left lower leg
• John R. Cleary 110 ft. (34 m); upper left chest wound
• Alan Canfora 225 ft. (69 m); hit in his right wrist
• Dean Kahler 300 ft. (91 m); back wound fracturing the vertebrae - permanently paralyzed from the chest down
• Douglas Wrentmore 329 ft. (100 m); hit in his right knee
• James Dennis Russell 375 ft. (114 m); hit in his right thigh from a bullet and in the right forehead by birdshot - both wounds minor
• Robert Stamps 495 ft. (151 m); hit in his right buttock
• Donald Scott MacKenzie 750 ft. (229 m); neck wound
  
  
  The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre or Kent State massacre,[2][3][4] occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. Four students were killed and nine others wounded, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.[5]

Some of the students who were shot were protesting the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. However, other students who were shot were merely walking nearby or observing the protest at a distance.[6][7]

There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of eight million students, and the event further divided the country along political lines.

From Wikipedia.

This will make you smile!

If you thought that Obama wasn't attracting great crowds in southern Indiana, think again. Here's a great video of his appearance in Bloomington, about an hour south of Indianapolis and home of Indiana University. Why can't CNN come up with footage like this? Note the older couple near the beginning who point out that Obama drew three times as many people than Hillary did at this venue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA8foqMs2_U


Also, make sure to check out the great diary that accompanied this video clip:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/4/0309/02886/901/508618