The Obama campaign has launched an all-out effort to help Hillary Clinton retire her debt. Obama’s national finance team members (bundlers) are being asked to go back to the well and get their donor friends to kick in up to $2300 (maximum allowed by law) to Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign. Donations will be designated for Hillary Clinton’s “2008 Primary Election Debt Retirement”. Donors are being assured that the money will not be used to pay back Hillary and Bill Clinton’s personal loan to her campaign, which they reportedly are recognizing as a loss. The campaign’s message is that this financial help is critical to ensure party unity and secure the support of Clinton’s backers – both donors and voters – for Obama in the general election.I’m not convinced.
Just last week, Bill Clinton complained that he'd "never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running." Well look again, Bill. Because your wife just succeeded in performing a 10-point-perfect double-dis against Barack Obama. First she stiff-armed his historic claim to the party's nomination with her "victory" speech on Tuesday night. Then the next day she ignores the most basic courtesy of telling her party's nominee she is dropping out of the race. She even passed up the opportunity to do so in person at the AIPAC conference. What a class act!
All's not well in Hillarywood. The problem with this picture show is the "suspension of disbelief."
Suspension of Disbelief
In the world of fiction you are often required to believe a premise which you would never accept in the real world. Especially in genres such as fantasy and science fiction, things happen in the story which you would not believe if they were presented in a newspaper as fact. Even in more real-world genres such as action movies, the action routinely goes beyond the boundaries of what you think could really happen.
In order to enjoy such stories, the audience engages in a phenomenon known as "suspension of disbelief". This is a semi-conscious decision in which you put aside your disbelief and accept the premise as being real for the duration of the story.
Suspension of disbelief only works to a point. It is important that the story maintains its own form of believability and doesn't push the limits too far.
Hillary Clinton herself introduced the concept last September when told General Petreus that his Iraq progress report required "a willing suspension of disbelief." But then so did much of her production of "Hillary the Inevitable", which regularly stretched the imagination to convince the media and public that she really had earned the nomination.
For example, her suggestion that party caucuses are undemocratic, that caucus state voters don't count, or that popular votes including the unsanctioned primaries in Florida and Michigan determines the winner. For five months we almost forgot that the story was all about delegates. So we have to concede she put on a fine show.
Sure, there were those plot lines that just did not seem to work because the evidence was so obvious. Like landing under sniper fire at Tuzla, or the policy on drivers licenses for non-resident foreigners, or the gasoline tax holiday. But as always, the talented Clinton Producer-Director-Acting team gave us a performance that spanned the spectrum of emotions. In fact, those scenes, from tears in NH to that distinctive laughter at the debates, will live on in memory long after show is over.
Sequel: Dream Ticket
Before we have even seen the last episode of their previous production, here comes the sequel, in which Bill and Hillary decide she would make the ideal Vice President. But now the suspension of disbelief is really to be tested.
First item is the casting. We don't yet know what part if any Geraldine Ferraro, who in the original production effectively portrayed the angry-older-white-woman with a hint of racist rage, will be allowed to play this time around. It looks like Bill Clinton, who previously as the male lead pretentiously suggested Barack take the minor part as her running mate even though he was ahead by every measure, will have fewer lines and be assigned a far smaller role at best. This is bound to make the entire story far less exciting.
BET founder Bob Johnson has already proven himself entirely miscast as the supplicant to the Congressional Black Caucus for Hillary-as-running-mate, which was just plain unconvincing. And everyone will miss Terry McAuliffe (last seen doing shots of Bacardi with Mika Brzezinski, presumably on their way to rehab) and Howard Wolfson, both of whom should be way too busy selling their tell-nothing books in the months ahead.
However, the greatest challenge to the suspension of disbelief will be those plot lines we just skimmed over the last time around. There is that little matter of being "fully vetted" and 35 years of experience. For a start, the new script-writing team of Johnson, Kennedy and Holder will have to struggle with Hillary's first radical law work in San Francisco and the performance review of her part in the Watergate investigation. And of course there are all those comments she made about Barack Obama over the past several months.
It's also not clear how the next episode will treat the problems hinted at by Vanity Fair. Forget about undocumented sexual innuendo. After Sex in the City and Larry Craig in the Minneapolis airport, that part is probably a sleeper. No, I'm thinking of Bill's high-flying friends and library donors. And those hints of influence peddling disguised as speaking and consulting fees on the joint tax returns. Now those issues could be a real problem reconciling with Obama's political themes. And if Obama adheres to the "no-drama" genre of inspiring documentary, the Clinton sequel could well be scrapped for a lack of both political and financial support. Just stay tuned.
wizinit is the nom de guerre of a veteran diplomat who is a fan of the late columnist Art Buchwald and comedian Andy Borowitz. If you would like to be notified whenever wizinit posts serious analysis or political satire, click on the logo to join Food Tasters For Obama.
As I write this, Democrats are about 63 hours from concluding our primary season. The end is near. Barack Obama is the presumptive winner of the Democratic nomination for president, and this was never more evident than the remark he gave in South Dakota last night after the rules committee made its decision on seating the Florida and Michigan delegations to the convention.
"I think that Senator Clinton and former President Clinton love this country. They love the Democratic Party. I think they deeply believe that Democrats need to win in November. And so I trust that they’re going to do the right thing."
A friendly but firm invitation into the fold for the last challenger yet to concede. A sign of how the Obama campaign does business. And a sign that the Democratic Party has coalesced behind Obama and pressure now mounts on the Clintons to do the same.
Word on the streets from Brooklyn to Boca is that former President Bill Clinton is shopping for a matchmaker. He wants to arrange a dream ticket between Hillary and “presumptive” Democratic Party nominee for President Barack Obama, a prospect that has Food Tasters For Obama salivating. That may help explain why New York Governor David Patterson reports “we’re starting to see a little desperation on the part of the woman who I support and I'll support until whatever time she makes a different determination.”
Barack Obama is expected to lose tomorrow’s primary race in Kentucky to Hillary Clinton, and it is not even expected to be close. Clinton leads Obama in the latest public opinion polls by anywhere from 25 to 36 percent, with an RCP average of 29.2 percent.But do not be surprised if her margin exceeds this range, perhaps approaching, that of her victory last week in West Virginia.Here are some things to keep in mind as you try to understand the results of the Kentucky primary.
George W. Bushinjected himself into the 2008 presidential race today when he took a swipe at Barack Obama in a speech to the Israeli Knesset.Without naming the Illinois Senator, the President criticized Obama's call for diplomatic engagement with Iran.Former Republican Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, commenting on MSNBC, described the President’s attack on a domestic political opponent in a formal speech in a foreign capital as “astonishing.”White House spokesmen said the speech was not a slam on Obama.However, CNN’s headline declared“Bush suggests Obama wants 'appeasement' of terrorists.”
[begin satire]
Speaking to a group of Americans Abroad in Tel Aviv after his speech, the President echoed Bill Clinton’s appeal on behalf of Hillary in January in New Hampshire, asking voters to give John McCain a "fighting chance" to continue the policies of the past eight years.“We can’t be a new story, I’m sorry,” he said apologetically, “there’s nothing we can do.I can’t make him younger, hairier, or African American.There’s lotsa things I can’t do. But if you want a President and you need one, he would be by far the best.”
These comments of course have led some political and psycho-analysts to see other strong similarities with former President Clinton's sometimes controversial role in his wife’s campaign.They speculate Bush is trying to make up for the public humiliation he subjected McCain to during his failed contest for the Republican nomination in 2000.Others note a McCain victory may be the last opportunity for Bush to restore the legacy of his own Presidency, stained by the scandals of a failed war, an economy on the brink of depression and the Administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.However, most analysts do not expect Bush to follow the example of former Presidents Clinton and Bush’s own father, George H.W. Bush, in promoting philanthropy after he leaves the White House.With all the catching up he has to do on the golf course, unfortunately they just don’t think there will be enough time left for fighting AIDS or helping disaster victims.
In other news, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino confirmed that the President has asked the Justice Department to provide him with a list of all Administration officials who may have committed crimes while in office. “The President wishes to ensure that before he leaves office his Article II powers to grant pardons are exercised to the fullest extent, whether just for directing lucrative contracts to cronies or the commission of war crimes.This is one section of the Constitution that the President considers sacrosanct.” Perino would not indicate, however, if the President was prepared to make public the names of all donors to the George W. Bush Presidential Library that will be constructed starting next year at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and is expected to cost as much as $500 million. "It is too early to make that call," said Perino, "and we were frankly hoping Bill Clinton would break ground on that precedent. We'll just have to wait and see what he does if Hillary becomes Vice President."
wizinit is the nom de guerre of a veteran diplomat whose career highlight was lunching with the late Art Buchwald in an Eighth Floor dining room at the US State Department in the mid-eighties.He is now a registered Fan of Andy Borowitz at the Huffington Post.
Tuesday's primaries made Barack Obama the "presumptive nominee". Now there is increasing speculation that Hillary Clinton will be his running mate. But some pundits warn that Obama better watch his back should Hillary become his Vice President. Concern was heightened after Bill Clinton recently invited Barack Obama for tea with some of Vladimir Putin's "associates" at New York's famous Russian Tea Room.
The danger of having the Clintons, who know their way around the White House kitchen, too close for comfort has motivated some Obama supporters to launch a new group seeking to protect their candidate from any close encounters with a bad oyster. Die-hard Obama supporters now have the opportunity to serve and make the ultimate sacrifice by joining Food Tasters for Obama.
Photo - Curry taster Sanjay Singh Sighat's tongue is insured for a million British Pounds. He is not a member of the group, but they HOPE he will agree to help train the Food Tasters for Obama.
Regardless of the ultimate decision to allow such a courageous undertaking under the unofficial wing of the campaign's website, a number of enthusiastic supporters have already signaled their desire to build the cadre of committed tasters to supplement the secret service's work of protecting the President of the United States.
Greg G. in Burlington VT says he looks forward to enjoying wholesome foods prepared by outstanding White House chefs. "I've been trying to get away from all those leftovers reheated in the microwave," he exclaimed happily, "but it has been hard to do fine dining during the intense campaign these past few months." Hannah S. from San Diego CA, said she is excited to taste for Barack, although she does not like mushrooms. Joe P. from Pittsburgh PA, wants to make sure the group includes hard-working, white Americans and the foods they love, like meat and potatoes. "I wanna devote my sophisticated palate to da cause," he said, "and that ranges from Big Mac meals right through to meatloaf and garlic mash, and everything in between."
Food Tasters for Obama founder Mark W. from Arlington VA said the Obama food tent will be large, with room for everyone. "We are fully inclusive and are sure there will be meaningful roles to play for supporters of all dietary persuasions. That includes kosher and halal, veggie and vegan, gluten- or peanut-free, and any other kind of food allergy. In fact, Steve from Norman OK, one of our most ardent members, is a lactose-inolerant soy latte drinker who stays awake all night thinking about getting started. I told him to switch to decaf until he gets the call."
Elsewhere, this morning on NBC's Today show mega-millionaire Bill Clinton declared that he will never release the names of his Foundation donors -- not during the presidential campaign, and not even if Hillary becomes Vice President. "I'm not the candidate," he said.
wizinit is the nom de guerre of a veteran diplomat whose career highlight was lunching with the late Art Buchwald in an Eighth Floor dining room at the US State Department in the mid-eighties.He is now a registered Fan of Andy Borowitz at the Huffington Post.
First of all, she cannot stop. Hillary has taken new money from donors with the promise she is going to fight till the end. Cowpoke Carville has "branded" Richardson for treason, and Hillary complains the men are at it again. The Clintons won't listen to anybody, so just give them their space.
Second, they don't believe in the graceful exit Sen. Leahy offered. Never mind if they risk humiliation later. Bill Clinton wants to be the Putin-Lite power behind his wife's throne. He says "relax" and "chill". But when he gets on stage at Denver, will he get the same treatment that Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee got in Texas this weekend. He would have it coming for injecting race into the campaign and suggesting Obama is not patriotic.
Third, the Clinton campaign is already in serious debt. Just check out this Politico article. If they still owe money from Iowa and Ohio, what has happened in the past few weeks while Hillary, Bill and Chelsea have been campaigning intensly across PA, NC and IN? And if they forget to release their tax returns in two weeks, we won't. And what about the Clinton Library donors list. By the time the Puerto Rico primary rolls around, the Clintons may be yelling "Tio" when their creditors come to collect "la cuenta".
No one should be surprised by the threatening letter to Nancy Pelosi from the Democratic Party fat-cats supporting Hillary Clinton. Despite all the high-minded talk of “sticking to the issues”, the Clintons have since the beginning followed a strategy of offering favors to supporters and attempting to intimidate voters in the Democrats' 2008 Presidential campaign. And the Pelosi letter is only the latest example that these tactics are now being applied to superdelegates. For those who have not followed these matters as closely, let me recap some highlights.
After former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack endorsed Hillary Clinton, her campaign arranged for some of her wealthy supporters to pay off some of the $400,000 debt he incurred before ending his own Presidential candidacy the previous month. That was almost 10 months before the Iowa caucuses. At the end of 2007, as evidence mounted of Clinton's inability to contain the growing grass roots movement for Barack Obama, her campaign set out to intimidate out-of-state students, who under Iowa law were legally allowed to register to vote and caucus in January.This was the first, but not be the last attempt at voter suppression.
In NH, poll watchers were prevented from observing some polling stations. I personally met a poll watcher who was asked to leave in Keene, ostensibly because it was too crowded; but Obama was able to carry all five wards in the city.But there were reports of widespread intimidation in areas where Hillary Clinton registered her best results: Nashua, Concord and Manchester.
In an interview with a conservative Pennsylvania newspaper yesterday, Hillary Clinton took the opportunity to address an issue that she has studiously avoided discussing in public during the current Presidential campaign. Over the past year the media has gingerly tiptoed around the 800 pound gorilla in Hillary Clinton's baggage (mixed, non-biblical metaphor intended), Bill Clinton's record of indiscretions culminating in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
When asked about her public humiliation as First Lady, Hillary cautioned "It's a very personal matter." However she went on to say that if she had known what Bill was like from the start: "He would not have been my husband. You don't choose your family, but you choose what marriage you want to be in."
Meanwhile, on her 70th college campus visit in Indiana promoting her mother's candidacy, Chelsea for the first time discussed her part in Tuzlagate in response to a question from a pro-Clinton student at Butler College in Indiana. Recalling her visit to Bosnia with her mother in 1996 when she was 16 years old, Chelsea said she and her mother were "very disappointed" by the fireworks display they had been promised at the airport. She had gotten over it however, but was even more miffed the following year upon hearing that U2 had put on a concert in Sarajevo in 1997 which Bono declared "Belongs to the Future". "And all I got was Sinbad and Cheryl Crow. Can you believe it?"
Ms. Clinton would not answer a question about whether she is on paid or unpaid leave from the Avenue Capital Group, a New York hedge fund whose co-founder Marc Lasry has been a major contributor to Democrats over the years, but also has donated to George W. Bush's campaigns. There is no evidence the FEC is investigating Chelsea's status, which could constitute a significant donation to the Clinton campaign far in excess of the limits permitted by law.
When asked to comment on Chelsea's remarks about the disputed nature of the trip to Bosnia, campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson explained: "Chelsea Clinton, unlike her illustrious parents, is not a politician. So you cannot expect her to misspeak as well as they do."
We all know that this play looks increasingly like a Greek tragedy. I've already suggested the worst-case scenario. That's the "Train Wreck in the Station" that turns the Denver Democratic Convention into a modern-day "Chicago '68". There is also the more insipid, but similarly destructive possibility for which there is already evidence in the tone of the campaign and polls of Democratic voter attitudes. That is, the nominee is selected "free and fair", but fails to win a significant share of the other contender's support, allowing McCain to slide through in November. The chances for this outcome could improve the longer this race drags on.
No wonder the pundits are now wringing their hands in search of an elder statesman to save the day. Albert Hunt sees the need for someone to sort out the Michigan/Florida mess. After all, if George Mitchell can hammer out a plan for Northern Ireland and the Middle East, as well as professional baseball, he can certainly work out something for the DNC. I concede that these renegade states are important to the Democrats’ electoral total in November. But solving the problem created by the queue-jumpers may not solve the Clinton-Obama stalemate, only prolong it.
Exaggerated, or fabricated as the case may be, claims of Senator Clinton's involvement in various issues like foreign policy, or the SCHIP program are all the reason why we will never see the Clinton White House documents.
Hillary Clinton, who has frequently described herself on the campaign trail as playing a pivotal role in forging a children's health insurance plan, had little to do with crafting the landmark legislation or ushering it through Congress, according to several lawmakers, staffers, and healthcare advocates involved in the issue.
In campaign speeches, Clinton describes the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, as an initiative "I helped to start." Addressing Iowa voters in November, Clinton said, "in 1997, I joined forces with members of Congress and we passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program." Clinton regularly cites the number of children in each state who are covered by the program, and mothers of sick children have appeared at Clinton campaign rallies to thank her.
But the Clinton White House, while supportive of the idea of expanding children's health, fought the first SCHIP effort, spearheaded by Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, because of fears that it would derail a bigger budget bill. And several current and former lawmakers and staff said Hillary Clinton had no role in helping to write the congressional legislation, which grew out of a similar program approved in Massachusetts in 1996.
Having gone through Tuesday, many are arguing that Obama should fight Senator Clinton’s “experience argument” by showing that she in fact does not have the experience she is claiming she does.
There are two major flaws with this strategy:
1. Each time Hillary brings up the “Experience” topic, she is subliminally evoking the “Bill” experience in the minds of the audience, essentially saying vote for me, and you’ll get him too. This makes her a “Ghost Target”. No matter how hard you punch at that argument, you won’t hit anything. Bill’s experience is there for all too see (what she is subliminally relying on), but you are instead punching her experience. You are just losing energy hitting air.
2. Even if somehow magically voters realized Hillary’s little psychological play, and stopped giving her credit for Bill’s “Experience”, this strategy will fail with John McCain. He does have experience, and you won’t win on that front the same way.
What happened to Joe Biden and Chris Dodd? Why didn't their candidacies have a chance? Let's let Bill Clinton try to explain it for us:
Clinton added that the strategy of equating experience with the taint of partisan injury "has been very effective in this campaign."
"It has already taken four candidates out, four good candidates out," he said. "And it would have taken Hillary out if she didn't have so much grassroots support and so much guts in the face of a lot of what has happened here."
It's worth pausing for a moment to realize what utter complete nonsense this is. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd were never accused of being too partisan.
Dodd and Biden were brought down by one thing: the hyperbole coming from the Clinton campaign about "experience." Chris Dodd authored the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993 and served in Congress for more than thirty years, while Joe Biden has been in the Senate since 1973, having long served on the Foreign Relations Committee. Bill Richardson, unlike Hillary Clinton, held actual cabinet positions in the Clinton administration, making real decisions as United Nations ambassador and Secretary of Energy.
But there was Bill Clinton telling crowds in Iowa that his wife was the most experienced non-incumbent he'd ever had the priviledge to vote for.
It was the Clinton campaign, not the Obama campaign, that diminished Biden's, and Dodd's, and Richardson's records of service. Joe Biden has spent the last thirty-five years in the United States Senate. Hillary Clinton spent her vaunted "Thirty-Five" years as a corporate lawyer and a first lady.
Will Barack Obama Have Another Chance to Become President
I think not. The Clinton campaign has so far successfully applied the Rovian tactics that Bill Clinton so admired when Bush took down John Kerry in 2004. The character assassination of Barack Obama has been swift and merciless. I expect that any damage done in 2008 will be permanent, and will not be repaired by subsequent apologies or regrets. That is, unless Obama proves he is willing and able to take Hillary down with him, sacrificing some principles (and really pleasing a lot of anti-Clinton voters in the process). That may even come to include withholding his support or endorsing a third party candidate.
Pleas to Hillary that she not distort the facts and to Bill to "cool it" will not do the trick. Is Barack Obama capable of striking back without holding back? It requires relentlessly ripping every aspect of Hillary's 35-years-of-experience myth and dirtying hands unearthing all the corruption and lies that are buried under the "fully-vetted" fairy tale. The Republicans will do the job in the Fall in any case, so why not? And if religious leaders like Kirbyjon Caldwell really want to help Obama, they should start by encouraging their flock to conduct their own email campaign decrying the "good Christians" who anonymously took part in the bearing-false-witness campaign and promoting intolerance.
With two days left in South Carolina, will this prove to be Obama's last stand, or the start of his resurrection?
I will keep this short so I can get out this morning and continue my work here.
I arrived in North Charleston late Monday. Lauren and John, who are working on the campaign in Berkeley county north of here, obliged my request to knock on doors by assigning me to the town of Goose Creek, where I spent my first day. Canvassing a predominantly African-American neighborhood I found strong backing for Barack Obama. The Clintons have succeeded is sowing some doubt, however, revealed by the indecision of some voters who had previously indicated support. But many previously undecided or not yet identified voters signaled they are going to vote for Obama. I see my task here as ensuring the voters do not take an Obama victory for granted and to Get Out The Vote.
I suspected something like this would come up. I just read a reader comment over on Ben Smith's blog from an Obama supporter whose Clinton-supporting friends are starting to feel uncomfortable with Hillary due to Bill's prominent place in the campaign over the last couple of weeks. I always suspected that Billary's gambit might provoke a female backlash due in large part to perceptions that she is letting herself be eclipsed into by a "Yeah, let's vote her in because then we get Bill" vote:
[S]omething funny has happened the last couple of days that was crystallized amongst those watching highlights of last night's debate. Around the office today, a number of women who were definitely in the Hillary camp are starting to feel a little sick to their stomach about the role Bill Clinton's is playing. One remarked that she thought she would be voting for the first women president, not a trojan horse for Bill Clinton's overactive ambition. Another friend I thought last week would definitely vote for Hillary labeled them the "Dynastic Duo" this morning and said she may switch to Obama. And finally, my best friend, who already sent in her absentee ballot says, she's got serious "buyer's remorse" saying she thought she had voted for the first women president, but now she's not so sure she's advanced or hurt women everywhere by voting for Hillary.
I hadn't yet watched this video, which is extraordinary. Bill Clinton got into a verbal tussle with a reporter over the lawsuit, while staffers try to pull him away from the event. Already 125,000 views on YouTube:
On DailyKos, obamamama wrote an emotional diary titled "I Feel Like I'm Going Through A Divorce" that gets at how a lot of us feel about the transformation of Bill Clinton in this race and our sudden estrangement from him. It hasn't been pretty:
The last few weeks have made me see Bill and Hillary as the people that I always swore they were not. It is really, really painful for me, and I feel riven. I'm giving up something that was really important to me, but it's just gone. It went away. So I've taken down the life-sized cardboard cutout of Bill with his saxophone that I've carted to three houses, and I've disposed of the campaign buttons and even the signed photos. I can't explain how it feels.
I feel betrayed and disrespected and taken advantage of. I feel cheated and I feel stupid. These people are almost the cartoon characters of Limbaugh and O'Reilly. I know that's over the top, but so are my emotions right now. They have no shame.
It kind of reminds you of the aging professional athlete who just doesn't realize when his time is up. I wonder if the Clintons undertook one election too many and are risking their legacy by running again.
Regardless, the lawsuit was thrown out today in federal court, leaving decisions about the voting process to the Nevada Democratic party, which set up the at-large caucus locations. The lawsuit would have unceremoniously shut down the voting places just days before the election and left tens of thousands suddenly without a place to vote and little chance to make other plans.
Durbin suggested that the former president has been giving somewhat revisionist accounts on the way the Iraq war debate played out.
“It was not easy to be against that war back when we cast that vote in October of 2002,” Durbin said. “I was one of 23 who voted against the war. Barack was supportive — one of the few candidates speaking out strongly against it in Illinois.
“If President Clinton had opposed that war as strongly as Barack Obama at the time, it would have helped a lot of us who had voted against authorizing an invasion.”
Durbin, the majority whip, was reacting to comments the former president has made in several recent forums suggesting that Obama’s opposition to the Iraq war has not been as steadfast as he has suggested on the stump.
The polls tell the story. People are hurting in their pocketbooks and becoming complacent about the war as the visible toll of violence in Iraq has subsided. Never to let such an opportunity escape, Hillary Clinton has rolled out an ambitious economic package that she hopes will resonate in the next set of caucuses and primaries to restore her electoral edge. The immediate and most prominent part of her package is the three month moratorium on foreclosures, a doubtful proposition barring voluntary compliance. This makes Hillary the shining knight on the white horse. Clever that, resurrecting Bill Clinton's old war cry: "It's the economy, stupid".
Word on the streets from Brooklyn to Boca is that former President Bill Clinton is shopping for a matchmaker. He wants to arrange a dream ticket between Hillary and “presumptive” Democratic Party nominee for President Barack Obama, a prospect that has Food Tasters For Obama salivating. 
Kentucky to Hillary Clinton, and it is not even expected to be close. 
opportunity for Bush to restore the legacy of his own Presidency, stained by the scandals of a failed war, an economy on the brink of depression and the Administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.
are exercised to the fullest extent, whether just for directing lucrative contracts to cronies or the commission of war crimes.
whose career highlight was lunching with the late Art Buchwald in an Eighth Floor dining room at the US State Department in the mid-eighties.
Tuesday's primaries made Barack Obama the "presumptive nominee". Now there is increasing speculation that Hillary Clinton will be his running mate. But some pundits warn that Obama better watch his back should Hillary become his Vice President. Concern was heightened after Bill Clinton recently invited Barack Obama for tea with some of Vladimir Putin's "associates" at New York's famous Russian Tea Room. 
