The political equivalent of the Flat Earth Society

Or is that an insult to the Flat Earth Society?

There are Clinton supporters clinging to the hope that if her name is placed in nomination and the roll call of the states is conducted, she might -- still win.

Why Obama would be insane to have Hillary as Veep running mate

It's all beautifully summed up here by Kelly McParland:

Barack Obama can’t possibly be bright enough to capture the Democratic presidential nomination and dumb enough to immediately undermine it by offering second spot on the ticket to Hillary Clinton.

Hat-tip to Justin Webb, who puts it nicely:

...it's not just the perceived gracelessness of her demeanour in recent hours: it's the simple fact that Barack Obama does not want That Man down the corridor. He wants Bill for his ambassador to Vanuatu. It's the Bill, stupid.

At last Hillary gets it

As a Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Obama seven points ahead of McCain nationally, Hillary's thank you video (below) at last signals that she has realised the game is up:

A video sent by Hillary Clinton as a thank you to her supporters has fuelled speculation that she is on the verge of dropping out of the White House race, with its strikingly valedictory tone.

The senator was also heard inadvertently referring to the next president as “he” as attention turned to how she could make a graceful exit from a gruelling, 17-month contest.

As she continued campaigning for today’s primary in West Virginia, the former First Lady thanked her followers for “all that you mean to me” and “for what you believe in”.

Nowhere in the message did she mention winning the Democratic nomination or becoming president.

“We will stay in touch and I hope you will continue to let us know what is on your mind,” it concluded.

Speaking to voters in the Appalachian state on Sunday evening, she said: “All the kitchen table issues that everybody talks to me about are ones that the next president can actually do something about, if he actually cares about it.”

The end of Hillary

After a double digit win in North Carolina and a "virtual tie" (pollster John Zogby's words) in Indiana, Obama will be unleashing about 30 new super-delegate endorsements over the next 36 hours (we are told).

This is probably, at last, the "killer blow".

Radio 4's Today were earning their licence fee on this subject this morning. They had John Zogby in the studio, which was quite a coup.

I had begun to doubt Obama's bounce-backability (great English word) but these results show he has it. He has bounced back from the "bitter" row and the Rev Wright row (which nevertheless will haunt him until November).

I had started to feel very queasy about Hillary's talk of credential committees at the convention in August. As one seasoned Democratic pollster said on Today: "If the contest goes to credentials and seating debates in August then the Democrats may as well write the concession speech to the Republicans there and then".

But Bill Clinton's glum face at Hillary's "victory parade" said it all and was underlined by the overnight withdrawal of a promised bucket of funding for the Clinton campaign.

She's finished.

Justin Webb, a man who has amassed considerable credibility as a US commentator, said it all in his post titled "The End":

The End - It really is as simple as that.
Even if Hillary were to surprise us all by performing well in forthcoming Obama-favoured contests in states like Oregon and South Dakota - even then, her victories would change the underlying arithmetic of the race so little that the impact would be minimal.

The disgrace of "Davros" Clinton

From ABC News:

(Hillary) Clinton further displayed tough talk in an interview airing on "Good Morning America" Tuesday. ABC News' Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.

"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

And this is the nuanced, subtle, informed and conscientious view of what we are told is an 'experienced foreign affairs hand'.

It’s taking Bill Clinton’s maxim ("When people are insecure, they'd rather have somebody who is strong and wrong than someone who's weak and right,") to a remarkable extreme.

What I hate about Hillary’s statement is….oh well hang on...there’s so many things I hate about it.

1. “Obliterate them” – who is "them"? Millions of innocent Iranians struggling to lead their lives while President “I’m a Dinner Jam” cowers safely in a bunker ?

2. Isn’t Israel a nuclear power anyway ? They refuse to confirm or deny this, but one wonders whether (a) Iran would attack them knowing they probably have their own nuclear weapons and (b) the US needs to rush to the defence of another nuclear power.

3. It is disgusting that Clinton is using such phrases. It is patronizing to the American people to cynically assume these sorts of statements will bring her extra votes.

Whatever happened to the subtlety of Theodore Roosevelt and his quotation of the West African proverb “Speak softly and carry a big stick” ?

Did JFK use such language during the Cuban Missile crisis ? Of course not.

Hillary Clinton has shown that she is the last person who ought to answer that legendary 3am red phone. If she is going to play to the gallery and go round throwing her weight about, this is not what anybody needs. Where's the intellectual rigour of her approach ? She's got all the sublety of Davros and the Daleks: "OBLITERATE"

Could lack of cash force Hillary out of race ?

The Politico reports that Hillary Clinton's campaign is delaying paying bills:

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles. A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter. Their cautionary tales, combined with published reports about similar difficulties faced by a New Hampshire landlord, an Iowa office cleaner and a New York caterer, highlight a less-obvious impact of Clinton’s inability to keep up with the staggering fundraising pace set by her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Michael Sneed in the Chicago Sun-Times reports:

....major money problems in the Clinton camp may soon become a coroner knocking on her campaign door.
• To wit: Word is the cash feeding into Hillary Clinton's campaign coffers has not only slowed down in a big way, undisclosed campaign debts that have yet to be made public could signal the end and have insiders biting their nails.
Translation: "It won't necessarily be politics which may force her out of the race," said a top Dem source. "There is no hanky panky going on, but Hillary needs to raise money to stay alive . . . and word is she may not be able to climb out of the money hole."
• The buckshot: "I think it's safe to say Hillary's not going to dip into her pocket again," the source added. "And if her employees start taking pay cuts while chasing the dream . . . it's usually the beginning of the body becoming totally cold."

Bosnia gaffe bursts Clinton's "super-stateswoman" bubble

I've blogged before about my annoyance at Hillary Clinton's insistence that she is some sort of Super-Stateswoman with a history of solving the world's conflicts from Bosnia to Ireland.

So, it was with an element of schadenfreude and vindication that I witnessed Hillary's Bosnia discomfort. She said she visited Bosnia in 1996 under a hail of bullets, running "with our heads down into the vehicles". A diligent TV researcher visited the bowels of the archives and unearthed footage showing that her arrival, in fact, was something akin to a walk in the park.

This gaffe is a very welcome emblem. Through the campaign, Clinton has constantly tried to portray Obama as inexperienced while stating that she has great experience on the world stage. (Northern Ireland ? Of course, ol' Hillary melted the heart of Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams and had them signing up to the Good Friday agreement in no time)

The 3am red phone call ad was typical.

But, until the Bosnia gaffe (which, unbelievably, was unforced - Clinton herself freely bragged about her visit) there was nothing which illustrated the lie behind the 3am phone call ad.

That lie is that Hillary has been a statesperson. She hasn't. She has been a Senator for a bit longer than Obama (who by the way has experience in many other areas). She was First Lady of the US and Arkansas.

That doesn't make her Henry Kissinger.

I don't wish to diminish the role of the partner to the US President, or indeed partner of the Governor of Arkansas. However, the Clinton campaign has built it up so much, that I am delighted that the Bosnia gaffe has burst the bubble.

Carl Bernstein on CNN describes the Bosnia gaffe as a "watershed" in a very interesting article on Hillary Clinton's relationship with the truth.

Maine?!

Call me a Numpty if you will, but I am staggered that Obama has won in Maine.

Maine!

"Murder she wrote" was set there! It's cosy coast country where the Bushes have their retreat.

59 (Obama) to 41 (Hilary) !

In October 2007, Clinton was beating Obama in Maine by 47 to 10!

There is something serious going on!

Matthew Yglesias comments beautifully:

My understanding, though, is that this doesn't really count because it's a small state, much as Utah doesn't count because there aren't many Democrats there, DC doesn't count because there are too many black people, Washington doesn't count because it's a caucus, Illinois doesn't count because Obama represents it in the Senate even though Hillary was born there, Hawaii won't count because Obama was born there. I'm not sure why Delaware and Connecticut don't count, but they definitely don't.

And Obama is now ahead on delegates.

If I was in Clinton's campaign I'd be wearing brown trousers to work now. Her campaign chief has quit or been pushed. But Hilary is of course able to take all these blows and carry on regardless. And of course, she'll take Texas and Ohio big and be home and dry. Of course. Yeah. Yeah.

While I am at it, this business about the Republicans looking forward to Obama and Clinton ripping themselves apart while McCain establishes himself as the front-runner has an element of BS (Bovine Scatology) to it. The Democrats will get great publicity from the ongoing race and there's already been record audiences for debates and record turn-outs at primaries and caucases. As long as Clinton and Obama keep roughly to their peace pipe routine, as established at the last debate, they should be able to keep the public interested and positive about the Democrats. After all, they (Clinton and Obama) only have a couple of substantial policy differences. And the personalities come down to "change" versus "experience". Not really a whirlpool of vitriol.

And by the way, McCain is getting all manner of cack thrown at him by the likes of Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. And Huckabee is clearly sponging up most of the southern states, making McCain look very vulnerable in the nether regions. So it's not all beer and skittles for the Republicans.

Obama and Clinton inspire

The Democratic Presidential candidates have had an interesting first televisual outing. Obama and Clinton did well as the expense of Edwards, the reports say.

Christopher Dodd has an interesting graphic on his web site, which shows who talked for how long during the debate. He calls it the Talk Clock. Obama was ahead in the talk stakes at 16 minutes, closely followed by Clinton on 14 minutes and 26 seconds.

Barack Obama has written an inspirational piece in the Foreign Affairs magazine, printed today in the Guardian, entitled: "The best chance for Iraq is to bring American troops home".

Hillary gets thumbs-down from left blogsophere

The Politico reports that Hillary Clinton is getting her frostiest reception from left-wing bloggers:

As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination, her biggest opposition may not come from primary rivals or Republican challengers, but rather from the leftist blog community that often views her as a political punching bag.

Instead of being embraced by liberal blogs as the first serious woman presidential contender, Clinton has been labeled an ‘opportunist,’ the candidate more interested in getting elected than in standing on principle.

Hillary borrows the John Kerry Joke book

In Iowa, Hillary Clinton tried to make a joke about her experience in dealing with 'evil and bad men' which would help her as president.

She seems to be learning comedic skills from John Kerry.

Oh dear.

Has Hillary Clinton lost it?

Roger Simon at Politico reports that Hillary Clinton ducked a question about Iraq at an Iowa face-to-face meeting with voters. She didn't mention Iraq once, but mentioned ethanol twice:

In her first face-to-face meeting with voters since announcing for president, Hillary Clinton was asked about Iraq and ducked the question. A man, who identified himself as a Gulf War vet, asked the New York senator at a town meeting in a high school gym here Saturday if the surge of new troops to Iraq “was going to be enough?”Instead of answering, Hillary (as she is officially called by her campaign) said, “Thanks so much for your service” and then talked about how she visits military hospitals and believes America needs to provide good medical care for its veterans.In the one-hour town meeting, Hillary did not mention Iraq a single time. She mentioned ethanol twice.

Has she lost the plot? Like McCain recently, has she miscalculated the US public's anger over Iraq?

However, Hillary, despite her recent jettisoning of her surname, is, after all, a Clinton. So, this must all be part of some very clever strategy which is incapable of being understood by an average idiot like myself.

Hillary declares - Democrat campaign boss hides under desk

Hillary Clinton has formally announced that she is running for US President. Her web site only mentions her first name, fascinatingly.

Barack Obama has already taken the first step to join the race.

So we now have the scenario that Democrat campaign guru, Rahm Emanuel, feared when he said:

I think that I am going to hide under this desk if both of them ran.

Apparently he now says he is taking his pen and paper down under the desk with him.