Arkansas Blog

"So I've been reading that the Sippy-Kup Kidz (those who cart around their kups of kool-aide and suck on them constantly lest the buzz fade and reality intrude) have been crowing about what a superdoublewidefantastic party organization The Precious has built, how it's cool and digital and virtual and full of lots and lots of bloggers and money. They are especially touting his new voter registration drive efforts and how this will power him to victory in the future."

that's "clear-eyed" ? ... more like "snark-eyed".

why did Obama do worse in North Carolina than Virginia?

perhaps due to 11 weeks as the frontrunner, having to endure a $50million effort by his Democratic Primary opponent to paint him as unqualified, not "tough" enough, and not in touch enough with "regular" people (with the subtext of race, class, gender, & associations underlying each attack) all while the GOP nominee and untolds millions of dollars worth of free media assisted.

and yet, Obama raised more money from more people, won and garnered more delegates/sd's during that process than did his primary opponent.

denial is one thing, but outright 'shit-stirring' can, if done enough, lead to self-fulfilling prophecy. i am sensing the darkest (pardon the pun) of motivations on the part of some who continue to engage in this practice. and i am by no means suprised that the worst of the offenders are concentrated in Little Rock and New York.

Obama is NO "presumptive Democratic nominee." This is a pro-Obama biased media proclamation.

The pro-Obama media have interfered in, undermined, and subverted the Democratic nomination process. The pro-Obama biased media continue to sabotage Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign.

Black racism cannot trump the Democratic nomination process. Obama's lead in delegates, superdelegates and votes is due to the black racism in voting against Sen. Clinton.

The Democratic nominaton process calls for all states to vote and if the candidates come up short in delegates for the nomination, then the superdelegates must select the best qualified candidate for the presidency using their independent judgment.

Obama does not have the requisite number of delegates for the nomination; he has no presumptive lock on the nomination. The Democratic nomination process is still in progress and concludes when all of the remaining states have voted and the superdelegates select the best qualified candidate using their independent judgment. Sen. Clinton is the best qualified presidential candidate and she must continue her fight for the future of America.

Qualifications must be the unyielding principle, similar to the rule of law, for the presidential nomination. Obama's skin color and fear of alienating the black vote cannot trump the unyielding principle of qualifications.

Obama's trying to swipe the nomination from Sen. Clinton with the premature end of the nomination process called by the pro-Obama media is a subversion of the Democratic nomination process, and Obama will crash and burn in November and the Democratic Party will be a train wreck in November. I will vote McCain. McCain will be president and it will be four more years of Bush under McCain.

Not to take anything away from Obama, but I think the millions of new voters flocking to the Democratic Party is directly due to unbearable loathing, hatred, and creeping desire to do bodily harm to Cheney-Bush. And there'd be something mighty wrong with a people if they didn't have a big reaction to being lied to, cheated, and made miserable by a political party in charge of a national, if not global, train wreck.

That would explain why a lot of the new voters are voting for Hillary. I personally don't care who their supporting as long as there is no R behind the name. This massive increase of people jolted awake by the atrocities of the Bush administration will be very helpful in the rebuilding of America. We need as many people as we can get to help put the Republican Jeannie of Greed back into the bottle and keep the bastards there for as many decades as possible.

Nothing but riches for them and misery to us comes from a majority of Republicans in the House, Senate, Supreme Court and White House. Herbert Hoover was so god-awful the Republicans were kept down for the next 20 years and thank God, Allah, and Buddha for that! We need to remember that lesson and throw as many Republicans out of office this November as possible. We also need to throw out the pseudo-Republicans like Pryor & Lincoln and not cast one vote for pure Republicans pretending to be Democrats like Greenwood's Bill Walters.

Half the reason we're in this mess is caused by the infiltration of the Democratic Party by closet Republicans like Mark W. Pryor. Nip them in the bud now! You don't have to spend your money to stop the menace that's dragging us down.....but you do have to cast your vote wisely and you do have to open your mouth and tell your neighbors and friends who you're voting for and why. The truth shall set us free......of Republicans and closet-Republicans and life will be good again! Tell someone today the truth about Mark W. Pryor!

Obama is NO "presumptive Democratic nominee." This is a pro-Obama biased media proclamation.

The pro-Obama media have interfered in, undermined, and subverted the Democratic nomination process. The pro-Obama biased media continue to sabotage Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign.

Black racism cannot trump the Democratic nomination process. Obama's lead in delegates, superdelegates and votes is due to the black racism in voting against Sen. Clinton.

The Democratic nominaton process calls for all states to vote and if the candidates come up short in delegates for the nomination, then the superdelegates must select the best qualified candidate for the presidency using their independent judgment.

Obama does not have the requisite number of delegates for the nomination; he has no presumptive lock on the nomination. The Democratic nomination process is still in progress and concludes when all of the remaining states have voted and the superdelegates select the best qualified candidate using their independent judgment. Sen. Clinton is the best qualified presidential candidate and she must continue her fight for the future of America.

Qualifications must be the unyielding principle, similar to the rule of law, for the presidential nomination. Obama's skin color and fear of alienating the black vote cannot trump the unyielding principle of qualifications.

Obama's trying to swipe the nomination from Sen. Clinton with the premature end of the nomination process called by the pro-Obama media is a subversion of the Democratic nomination process, and Obama will crash and burn in November and the Democratic Party will be a train wreck in November. I will vote McCain. McCain will be president and it will be four more years of Bush under McCain.

Obama is NO "presumptive Democratic nominee." This is a pro-Obama biased media proclamation.

The pro-Obama media have interfered in, undermined, and subverted the Democratic nomination process. The pro-Obama biased media continue to sabotage Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign.

Black racism cannot trump the Democratic nomination process. Obama's lead in delegates, superdelegates and votes is due to the black racism in voting against Sen. Clinton.

The Democratic nominaton process calls for all states to vote and if the candidates come up short in delegates for the nomination, then the superdelegates must select the best qualified candidate for the presidency using their independent judgment.

Obama does not have the requisite number of delegates for the nomination; he has no presumptive lock on the nomination. The Democratic nomination process is still in progress and concludes when all of the remaining states have voted and the superdelegates select the best qualified candidate using their independent judgment. Sen. Clinton is the best qualified presidential candidate and she must continue her fight for the future of America.

Qualifications must be the unyielding principle, similar to the rule of law, for the presidential nomination. Obama's skin color and fear of alienating the black vote cannot trump the unyielding principle of qualifications.

Obama's trying to swipe the nomination from Sen. Clinton with the premature end of the nomination process called by the pro-Obama media is a subversion of the Democratic nomination process, and Obama will crash and burn in November and the Democratic Party will be a train wreck in November. I will vote McCain. McCain will be president and it will be four more years of Bush under McCain.

Get over it, Crat, you lost.

"Obama's trying to swipe the nomination from Sen. Clinton"

She never had it in the first place. To paraphrase - "this young upstart is taking it away from the anointed one! How dare he!"

If you Hilbots hold on to your hate and refuse to get over the fact that someone won more of the popular vote, more states, and more delegate is going to win the nomination, then you ensure 4 more years of President Bush 2.0.

You guys are the ones who are bitter - not the people in the rural beltway. The quicker people abandon Hillary's sinking ship the better off we are in November.

BTW, before someone asks, if she does get the nomination I will hold my nose and vote for her, but will forever be disenchanted by the Democratic Party's refusal to listen to the will of the people.

I am getting to where I would rather hear some asshole discuss his latest golf game stroke by stroke -- which I previously thought was the epitome of boredom -- than experience you people dissecting the minutia of the presidential race. Leave this pseudo science to the TV idiots and get a life.

presumptive or no..
Obama has
Most votes
Most delegates
Most Super delegates (added 9 yesterday)
Most money
31 states won (or more, i lost count)
1.5 million individual contributors and growing.. 90 percent of those contributors have put in 100 or less.. So nowhere near the cap and nowhere near the need to run for those super wealthy elites packaging in huge donations.. though I am sure that's part of the plan for every contender.. Nice to know it's not the "do or die" scenario for our presumptive front runner.

Hilarys folks are probably tapped out by comparison.

Why isn't the reverse sexism raised here?

Of course some African Americans are voting for Obama because of his skin color.. they learned from whites how that game is played... How many women are voting for Hillary while she supports anti choice Mark Pryor?

Voting for race, gender, income, or religion alone is wrong, but its happening for all three remaining candidates, especially McCain and his fundies and white votes. Picking on one for it, without picking on them all is just divisive and i wish Hillary would leave that type of nasty to the GOP... but, apparently, she cannot.

What about Hillarys consistent high negatives in re polls? talk about someone who will not be able to increase support from swing independents and GOPers!

Not to mention her horrific record on almost every issue... Especially genocidal warfare based on her lack of willingness to read the NIE before her AUMF vote. I knew better and all I had to do was watch Senators speak about it on the Senate floor on CSPAN for a few hours. She gambled away trillion of dollars and tens of thousands of US troops are now amputees with thousands more dead, for a LIE. (not to mention over a million dead iraqis and over 4 million without a home)

What about her freak religious group in DC?

I think I will continue presuming for now.

"Obama is not drawing a statistically significant larger number of people to the polls..."
A clear-eyed blogger

What on earth is that supposed to mean? Statistical significance has to do with estimates calculated based on probablility samples. This statement from "clear-eyed blogger" is illiterate nonsense.

You kids are quickly turning into complete pieces of shit. Bloggers are only clear eyed if they side with Hillary?

I am just so happy this charade is over. I guess we have to put up with these retarded and BITTER bull shit sentiments...the final death rattles from the Hillaryphiles if you will.

Hillary lost the nomination (again back to 1984 I know losing the nomination somehow makes you a stronger General nominee) But do you fucking rotten pieces of shit really value Hillary more than the Democratic Party?

Max become a Republican if thats what makes you happy! You can show all us poor ignorant Democrats just how foolishly we are for daring to question Hillary's entitlement. McCain wins, I guess you win.!

Unfortunately and ironically the dumbass people backing Hillary are the same ones who championed John Kerry as the most electable candidate, when all of us rational Democrats sided with likeable southerners like General Wesley Clark and John Edwards; Now we are siding with a likeable and charismatic figure from a new generation of America, instead of the wife of a great President who has displayed signs of Schizophrenia and a clear Identity Crisis while on the campaign trail

BUT back on the ranch. these same party hacks and borderline socially dysfunctional agoraphobic YANKEE political dweebs (and yes the sycophants in Arkansas who can't ween themselves from the Clinton teet and the star fucking it provides while they are in the White House) ...some how have fucking convinced themselves that Hillary is more tied to the base of the Democratic party rural white people???? wake the fuck up we have never won those votes and Hillary sure as hell ain't gonna win those votes in the General.

THE NOMINATION IS OVER and Hillary is finally starting to show a little class with her campaign and staying positive.

Its about time the rest of you dumb asses followed suit.

And CRAT3 you are completely fucking nuts!

I mean you need to be committed.

Hillary Clinton started out with a majority of the black vote when this process started because of the good will her husband brought to her campaign. Many many blacks in America very much related to Bill Clinton because contrary to popular belief the black experience in America is not necessarily tied to the color of your skin.

Blacks related to Bill because he grew up poor, he grew up being slighted by those who thought his family was trash, Bill had to fight tooth and nail to overcome being looked down upon....those are the values and shared experiences allowed Bill Clinton to become so embraced by Black America. That's why Toni Morrison said in many ways Bil was the first Black President.

Hillary grew up Republican, upper middle class, with a midwest conservative sensibility, over seriousness, and a milquetoast personality. And as black voters go to know Hillary outside of her husband they realized they had absolutely no connection to her.

And yes Barack Obama stood up to the smell test and showed he could win and more blacks and more American gravitated to him.

THEN Hillary fell into her Republican mindset and deliberately played the race card, the Muslim card, the fear card, the Osama card, the bitter card, the Rev. Wright card, and the whites like me better card and now he can't win the General card.

Pushing more and more blacks and sensible Americans to Obama's camp. At this point why would any one in the black community support Hillary when she continues to act more and more like a Republican.

BUT what a joke that someone would say blacks are voting because of their racism towards the Clintons???

Are you kidding? The very group that put Bill Clinton in the White House and the Governor's Mansion

Is now somehow meaningless and foolish because they DARE vote for a candidate other than HIllary

YOU all need to beg GOD for forgiveness!!! YOU are all becoming so belligerent and Republican that all I can say is may God may have mercy on your souls because the Hillary syndrome seems to have rotted you to the core.

Orval

Hardly a "clear eyed" take, Max...

C'mon...an obscure pro-Hillary blogger?!

Jeez...

A United States History book written in 2020 will not contain the following sentence:

"There has never been an African-American president of the United States. In 2008, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama finished the Democratic primary season with a lead in votes, delegates, and states carried, but party insiders chose instead to award the nomination to a white woman, Sen. Hillary Clinton."

NOR, if things were exactly reversed, would that history book read:

"There has never been a female president of the United States. In 2008, New York Sen. Hilllary Clinton finished the Democratic primary season with a lead in votes, delegates, and states carried, but party insiders chose instead to award the nomination to a black man, Sen. Barack Obama."

I know there are some among my fellow Hillary supporters who have concluded that the nomination may be "given" to Barack just because he is black, or to appease the blacks. Yet I wonder if these same good folks have any doubt that, if the vote and delegate totals were exactly reversed, the party leaders would no less recoil from enshrining themselves in history as proof that a woman could not get a fair shake.

Who knew, a year ago, that these campaigns would be racing toward History on parallel tracks, and that party leaders would be loathe to *appear* to derail either of them.

Of course, Sen. Obama is flawed and vulnerable (as is Sen. Clinton in different ways), but I believe taking he position that the party is doing for him something it would not do for Hillary (if the shoes were on other feet), is allowing disappointment to overrule reason.

The man would not have gotten this far if he didn't have a lot going for him. It's time to circle the wagons.

JEEZ, big 'O' you make me want to charge up...Obama's pay-pal INTERNET ground-game-R-US!
Really NICE Orval.

PS Thank you Hillary for exposing the Damandocrat party.

Holy cow, Orval, that's one of the nastiest blog posts I've read. I sure hope Obama shows more grace toward Hillary than you've shown us with your last posts. I hope you feel better after spewing all than venom.

Once again, TAP, you're correct...there is going to be bitter feelings either way...be it over gender or race. Again, too bad Obama isn't a black woman.

Again, too bad Obama isn't a black woman.<<

If you're of a mind for it there is a black female running for POTUS.

blue

She's got my vote!

Yes, Orval, Hillary started out with the majority of the Black vote. She might have lost it anyway as Obama was out and about more - it's hard not to support the first Black candidate - or she might have kept that majority - but I remember the day she lost it. Bill stated a FACT, that it wasn't unexpected that Hillary lost SC because it had gone to Jesse Jackson in the past. That simple FACT was turned into a racial slur by the swooning Obama media and by dark that day, many decided the Clintons (despite their history) were blatant racists.

When Obama supporters realize that preferring Hillary does not equal racism, and pointing out simple facts about the voting public and their attitudes does not equal racism, we will all be better off and it will be a darn sight easier for Hillary supporters to get gung ho about Obama and try to help him win.

Thanks, Lwood. Cynthia McKinney has a good head on her shoulders. Hope I live long enough to see a major third party in this country, be it Green or Libertarian. It's way overdue.

Kids! Kids! Stifle! You're giving the Republicans a very happy Saturday. Orval, you need medication and a few years of wisdom to sink into your head and you might be OK. Save this venom for John McCain, our true enemy. Jesus, you'd think Hillary was the Harlot of Hades, instead of another Democrat who wants to be President. Wanting to be President isn't the same thing as child molesting or selling nuclear secrets to the Commies.

Obama has the lead, but he has not locked up the nomination vote-wise as of this moment. I personally think he will in the end and I think the end is coming fairly soon. Then those of you who have a football mentality can chill out and start acting like normal people again. Here's a little reminder...if your gas tank is empty and you got no food, you better have friends and relatives who love you and want to help. Neither Hillary nor Barack is going to loan you 5 bucks. They are not your friends, they don't know you and the pint of blood that saves your whiny life will not be coming from them. Be adults please.

I will be majorly pissed if the person with the most votes is not our Democratic nominee. FK super delegates or slippery party rules that hand the nomination to anyone other than the one with the most votes. We can't fight the Republicans by being Republicans ourselves. So I hope and wish I could pray that the Democratic Party ends this race in a good old fair American fashion in whatever time it takes to do it right.

Now....what are you Obama freaks going to do when Hillary is named as his running mate?

I think the Dems should change all their rules and dump the SD's. They serve absolutely no purpose in this day of the 24 hr media circus when any and every hiccup is turned into the topic du jour for days on end. Their purpose was supposed to be to protect the party from us - we the people - who wouldn't know which candidate was best for us. We would vote and, if it was okay, the SD's would go along quietly. They were chosen for just the scenario we have today, but................they can't function. No longer will anyone (me included) accept a candidate being shoved down our throats "for our own good". So, whatever the popular vote and the number of states delegates won in primaries and caucuses, they will rubber stamp. Without them, this might have ended a long time ago - one way or the other. But because they exist, hope reigns supreme.

If they can't do what they were chosen to do, they might as well not be at all. Let's dump them pronto........

Democratic voters and caucus participants have decided on Barack Obama, despite his not yet having reached the magic 2,024 delegate mark. I thought it might be useful to go back to Day 1, the first primary in Iowa way back on January 3 (why does that seem like way more than 4 months ago?), to see how the horse race went. After all, since Clinton was the heavy favorite in the starting gate, we may want to recollect that Obama must have overtaken her at some point during the race. Nope, here's what really happened:

January- Obama took the lead right out of the starting gate with his Iowa caucus win and 11-delegate margin, and tallied 72 to Clinton's 47 delegates for the month. Obama- +25 delegates

February- for the entire month Obama prevailed 1,135 to 999 for Clinton; if you just count Super Tuesday on February 5 Obama won by a narrower margin of 847 to 834, but for the rest of the month he won big time by 288 to 165, winning the final 11 contests in a row. Game over given DNC proportional representation rules? Obama- +161 delegates

March- again, Obama wins by 210 to 205. Obama- +166 delegates

April- Clinton finally wins her only month since Pennsylvania was the sole April contest, and she got 85 delegates to 73 for Obama. Obama- +154 delegates

May- there are still several contests to go this month, but so far Obama is once again winning by 101 to 90. Obama- +165 delegates

With 6 contests left, both candidates appear on the verge of winning three each- West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico for Clinton versus Oregon, South Dakota and Montana for Obama. That, of course, is not cast in stone, but pretty likely to be the results.

Some of the states that have already voted still have more delegates to pick, including Iowa with 6 (Obama won handily), New Hampshire with 4 (Clinton won that one), South Carolina with 8 (big time win for Obama) and 1 more for Democrats Abroad (Obama won). The last six contests would seem to favor Clinton with 134 delegates at stake in her 2 states plus Puerto Rico versus only 83 in Obama's 3 states, not that it matters much at this point.

Now that the top of the ticket is settled, who will be #2? Who would make a good #2?

Nominees for silliest comments- Clinton said the other day that under the winner take all rules used in most Republican primaries she would have already won the Democratic nomination by now. Very, very weird. Maybe she filed to run in the wrong party by mistake?

Clinton's big lead of over 100 superdelegates early this year has dwindled to nothing as Obama picked up 9 supers yesterday while Clinton gained one and lost another one to Obama, a net wash for her. A dozen supers have now switched from Clinton to Obama and not one has gone the other way. Interesting. According to Democratic Convention Watch, Clinton is ahead now by just 1/2 super (some supers are only half as super as other supers). The Associated Press has Obama ahead by 4 supers, 275 to 271. Clinton: "Gulp! Where did that big superdelegate lead go?" All gone.

I don't care to do the math - doesn't mean that much to me, but, waterboy, ABC also said Clinton would be ahead under Republican rules, so maybe the comment wasn't so silly after all?

Click my name for article.

Max, since you insist on calling us Obamists, I must call you a Hillary Shill.

"I don't care to do the math - doesn't mean that much to me"

Ci.Ci

Ci.Ci, the delegate counts I posted came from Real Clear Politics. The math is the only thing that means anything. Your comment that it "doesn't mean that much to me" is sad, since 'the math' is what will determine who will be the next president. Not the popular vote, not who gets the highest percentage of white females, or people earning over $100,000, or Caucasian dentists in Philadelphia, but the Electoral College results. That's the rules, and every American has to live by them, like it or not.

The Democratic Party adopted its presidential primary rules years ago. Both Clinton and Obama and all the other candidates that have been forced to drop out due to lack of public support knew what the rules were going in. So Clinton can claim that she would have won by Republican rules, but even if true that and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks. She could just as validly claim that if only New York and New Hampshire primary results counted she would be the Dem nominee. Doesn't matter one iota.

Candidates don't get to make up their own rules on the fly any more than any of us do in the game called life.

In November voters will decide whether Obama and his running mate will take office next January and try to reverse at least some of the damage done during the Bush/Cheney reign of terror on America. You have the right to vote for McCain as a way of showing your displeasure at Clinton not being the Dem nominee. That's your right. As a veteran, I value my vote much more highly than that.

Max, for a real clear-eye read Bob Herbert's column in today's NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/opinion/10herbert.html?ref=opinion

Don't worry about me, waterboy, my comment about it not meaning much to me was regarding whether or not it's true that Hillary would be ahead under different rules. The math means as much to me as it does to you, but only when it counts. I don't spend time, as you did, trying to prove something that doesn't matter anyway.

That said, if you will read the link I gave you, you might find some different information.

The way the Democratic nomination is currently calculated is simply unfair.

Given that the votes of white, hard working people are so much more important in the general election, the votes of of black, lazy people should only be counted as 3/5 a vote.

Had this fair system been in place from the outset, Hillary Clinton would have won the nomination, albeit barely. Here's hoping the clear-eyed super delegates are wise enough to implement this systen retroactively.

"Max, for a real clear-eye read Bob Herbert's column in today's NY Times."

Don't you get it? A random user on myspace who blogs a post supporting Hillary with quasi-analysis is more credible than every major newspaper pointing out the "southern strategy" of Hillary or the fact that she needs 87% of the remaining vote to surpass Obama (it's probably higher now that superdelegates are dropping her).

This is an opinion journal, so Max has said.

Chill, Big Easy. No one said the system was 'unfair' to Clinton or her supporters, to the contrary, it is soooo fair it will probably not give us a candidate with the prerequisite number of delegates from primaries and caucuses by the date of the last primary, if all the predictions are correct. The system is soooo fair that of two very close candidates, one will have to go against their every inclination and just.......quit.

The system is only "different." It is different from the Republican one of winner take all and the national election one of winner take all - which IS unfair and discourages voters. I lived most of my life in Texas, and voting was useless in the national election because the other candidate always got my part of the vote even when I detested him. Regardless our problems, I prefer the Democratic system we have in the primaries, even though the Republican brand may have given her the nomination.

JD, JD, JD. I'm a Hillary supporter, but I also like Barak very, very much. I want a Democrat to win and I will work as hard as I can to get Obama elected. That said, why, oh why, have Obama supporters and the MSM, decided to split the party by calling FACTS "southern strategy"? Certainly doesn't make me eager to run out and start helping the Obama campaign right away. We have two excellent candidates - both with baggage - to go against McCain in Nov. One is new and exciting and if he could be successful, might really change the future of this planet, but many racist white Democrats won't vote for him under any circumstance. The other is old school, not so exciting, but she would also take the country in a better direction - though admittedly not as revolutionary as Obama. She could also win some southern, somewhat racist red states along with carrying the traditional blue states and really whip the senile McCain's butt from here to his 100 years in Iraq.

That is the formula that stares this Hillary supporters in the face and makes it hard to give up. The more Obama supporters and the MSM try to make this racist on our part and on the part of the Clinton campaign, the more we keep voting for her. It ain't racism...................it's the desire to be certain we keep McCain out of the WH!

We will help Obama and your guy will hopefully win and he will be "our guy" to all of us. But, I must say, "you guys" could help us all get to unity by stopping the bashing of Clinton, just a little.....

Hillary and Obama began on the same race course, except that Hillary had one hell of a head start with everything from name recognition to money to political connections to organization.

Hillary lost those advantages because of bad strategy, planning and execution, not because the race course favored the underdog. (What electoral system has EVER favored the underdog?)

Why does anyone think that the result would have changed if the race course would have been different?

I agree Hillary made lots of mistakes in her campaign, but I think the primary reason she lost is her opponent. It was impossible from the get go to press any Obama weaknesses and hopefully McCain will have the same lack of success in doing so. That's what I hope for at any rate.