“Look, if we had the rules that the Republicans have, I’d already be the nominee.” — hillary clinton, may 7, 2008.

hillary clinton is a fighter.

unfortunately, she’s punch-drunk and doesn’t know enough to stay down. and the people in her corner keep running her back into the ring.

If Clinton presses on to the bitter end, as is her misguided right to do, she will carry the burden of ruining the Democrats’ best chance in years to change Washington, D.C., end the war in Iraq and move the country forward internationally and domestically.

In the longest nominating process on Planet Earth, it is hard to say one state’s results are more important than another’s. When looking for an end point, however, we know it when we see it. Clinton has tenaciously exhausted her options.

Clinton’s campaign is over. She is perhaps the last to know.

it’s odd (but consistent) that clinton bemoans the rules of the democratic nomination process. if only the rules were different. if only barack obama hadn’t come along when he did. if only her inevitability train hadn’t been derailed. she’d already be the nominee.

but she’s not. and she’s not going to be.

hillary’s a fighter, and she went 50 rounds, some of them ugly and bloody.

no one can say she’s a quitter. but the fight is over.

somebody throw in that towel.

some folks don’t like rev. wright. some don’t like hillary’s untruthiness.

but more people, by far, dislike george bush.

In the survey, 43 percent of registered voters say they have major concerns that McCain is too closely aligned with the current administration.

among mccain’s many (many) other issues, his “george bush problem” will be his undoing.

“the time is now…”
.

“we cannot wait until tomorrow…” (because we get better-looking every day).

h/t to joe willie namath…

Clinton Declares Indiana Victory — But Outcome Is Still in Doubt

“Not too long ago my opponent made a prediction,” Hillary Clinton said tonight, addressing supporters in Indiana. “He said I would probably win Pennsylvania, he would win North Carolina, and Indiana would be the tie-breaker. Well, tonight we’ve come from behind. We’ve broken the tie, and thanks to you, it’s full speed on to the White House.”

whoops.

early returns in decisive lake county (city of gary, ind.) are 75%-25% for obama.

msnbc is reporting that clinton has cancelled all her appearances for wednesday morning.

working on her concession speech, one might imagine.

* * * * *

update: obama crushed clinton in north carolina, 57%-43%.

i’m trying for restraint, here.

i’m trying not to say anything that will make it impossible for me to support hillary clinton, in the event that the unthinkable happens, and she somehow cheats her way to the democratic nomination.

but it’s increasingly difficult.

every day she continues her hopeless campaign, we’re one day closer to a mccain administration.

and it’s increasingly clear clinton just doesn’t give a damn.

exhibit a, her reported ‘nuclear option’ that would throw the democratic party into civil war, and hand the election to mccain…

If Clinton does well or outright wins in Indiana and/or North Carolina this week, if her argument for electability takes hold and if enough party activists are willing to withstand the revolt that would ensue, Clinton could force a vote of the party’s bylaws committee to seat the disputed, Clinton-rich delegations of Florida and Michigan and overtake Barack Obama’s delegate lead.

exhibit b, a corrolary to exhibit a, with racial implications…

“If this party is perceived by people as having gone into a back room somewhere and brokered a nominee, that would not be good for our party,” House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (S.C.), the highest ranking African American in Congress, warned yesterday. “I’m telling you, if this continues on its current course, [the damage] is going to be irreparable.”

exhibit c, what the hell are these people thinking?

If the Clintons get back into the White House, it will be retribution time, like the Corleone family consolidating power in “The Godfather,” where the watchword is, “It’s business, not personal.”

…but with the Clintons it’s business and it’s personal. Just think of all the scores to settle, the grievances to indulge.

Notables who abandoned her for Obama will get the Big Chill. “He’s dead to us,” a Clinton aide was quoted saying of John Kerry, who along with Ted Kennedy was turned off by the perception of race baiting that led up to the South Carolina primary. A major donor, conflicted between the two candidates and apologetic over his backing of Obama, found Hillary less than sympathetic. “Too bad for you, because I’m going to win,” she snapped.

i’m trying for restraint here.

but it’s not working.

hillary clinton is waging a one-woman war against it, but most would agree she’s a hopeless case…

.
ohio seethes with a brand of steamy passion and wanton lust that would make caligula blush…

Ohio attorney general admits to affair with employee

The investigation uncovered a seedy underside to the office rife with booze, profanity, inappropriate sexual activity, misuse of state vehicles and on-the-job threats involving the Mafia.

but aside from that, everything was going great, right?

Ohio’s attorney general admitted he was in over his head as he acknowledged an affair with a subordinate and his failure to stop problems that led to a sexual harassment investigation that brought down three of his aides.

Marc Dann apologized to his wife and supporters but insisted he would not step down. “I am in the office, have rolled up my sleeves and am working on behalf of the people of the state of Ohio,” he said.

step down? over a little incompetence and lawless bacchanalia? why, republicans have been operating this way for years. why should a democrat be held to a higher standard?

it’s really quite impressive.

in the annals of going from the penthouse to the outhouse, no one has gone as spectacularly as george bush.

A new poll suggests that President Bush is the most unpopular president in modern American history.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday indicates that 71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush is handling his job as president.

“No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup Poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president’s disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark,” said Keating Holland, CNN’s polling director.

if you connect the dots between this figure and bush’s 90% approval rating shortly after 9/11 (a fabulous, perfect irony in its own right), the path described is that of a black hole. truth and beauty and treasure and soldiers and civilians and dignity and clarity and love and laughter go in, but they never come out.

it’s a flame-out of epic, historic proportions. a bonfire of inanities, if you will. and even if you won’t.

further down this road, it’s worth noting (again) that 66% of republicans still approve of the job bush is doing. which raises at least a couple questions:

1. why are republicans so out of touch with the rest of america?
2. what would bush have to do to earn the enmity of republicans?
3. why do republicans hate america so much?

it’s also worth noting that after 7+ years of raping the world and pillaging this country, bush is still president. meanwhile, it is posited by some, barack obama should not become president because of something someone else said.

isn’t it rich? isn’t it ironic? don’tcha think?

i digress.

in a short time, bush managed to squander not only his ersatz “political capital,” but the very real and valuable goodwill of the rest of the world. he continues to burn up massive piles of money that don’t belong to him, and burn down america’s reputation.

for anyone else, this would’ve been a tremendous undertaking, but george has made it look effortless. almost as if it were what he set out to do all along.

if so, perhaps some orwellian, up-is-down, stupid-is-smart congratulations are in order.

to quote john mccain: mission accomplished.

it’s sunday. a(nother) day to relax, decompress, take a deep breath, and think healing, positive thoughts.

Dems add to majority with Cazayoux win in La.

House Democrats continued to expand their majority Saturday night after Louisiana state Rep. Don Cazayoux emerged victorious in a special election for retired Rep. Richard Baker’s (R) district.

The win comes two months after Democrats picked up their first seat of the year. In March, Democrat Bill Foster won the Illinois seat of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R). That seat, like the Louisiana contest, was in solidly Republican areas.

ahhhh…

this zen moment brought to you by sunshine in seattle, where 60 degrees feels like 75 anywhere else.

it’s saturday. a day to relax, decompress, take a deep breath, and think healing, positive thoughts.

D.C. Madam Commits Suicide

The “D.C. Madam” hanged herself Thursday, just weeks after she was convicted of running a call-girl ring that catered to Washington’s power elite in a case that had some scared she would name names.

as freud said (or was alleged to have said before his suspicious and untimely demise), “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

which was his way, i suppose, of saying “sometimes things really are the way they seem.” or “most often the simplest explanation is the most likely.”

or some such thing.

the corrolary, of course, is that sometimes things aren’t the way they seem, and the simple explanation is far from the truth.

so far there is not one (reported) shred of evidence to support the conspiracy theory that palfrey was murdered. but, given the names alleged to be in her little black book of clients, isn’t it a little too pat, a little too convenient that the girl would off herself?

One of the escort service employees was former University of Maryland, Baltimore County, professor Brandy Britton, who was arrested on prostitution charges in 2006. She committed suicide in January before she was scheduled to go to trial.

Palfrey said last year that she, too, was humiliated by her prostitution charges, but said: “I guess I’m made of something that Brandy Britton wasn’t made of.”

that doesn’t sound like the mindset of the pre-suicidal. it sounds like someone who is a survivor, who might be prepared to take steps to ensure her continued existence. like, say, mailing a list of those clients to a trusted source. or hiding a key to a safe deposit box, out of reach of the “washington power elite.”

then again, maybe palfrey was determined not to go back to jail. maybe she wasn’t interested in the money she’d make in a tell-all book and movie. and, what the hell, maybe she couldn’t bear the thought of a bush presidency one second longer.

perhaps, in this case, a cigar is just a cigar.

sure. that’s probably it.