Dear Party Elders: It won’t matter if she concedes

If you’re thinking that pushing her to concede is going to make it more likely that the rest of us will fall into line, you couldn’t be more wrong. It will simply harden our resolve to not vote for Barack Obama. Many of our friends and colleagues aren’t going to vote for him either. I think you should take Harriet Christian’s warning very seriously.

We know the vote was rigged because Hillary was getting too close. We know why the Florida and Michigan delegations were halved. She was getting within 100 votes of his total. That’s a psychological threshold isn’t it? It might have given some delegates pause. Yes, the whole seedy underside of the primary system was on display this year from the precinct captains who were overwhelmed by possibly invalid Obama voters, to the mayor of Gary, Indiana withholding his tally until 5 hours after everyone else in his county had reported, to the farce of an RBC committee that awarded Hillary’s delegates to Obama.

Well, I saw what went down in Florida in 2000 and I am still rather PO’d about that. And then it was followed by Ohio in 2004 and I’ve never gotten over that one either. But it really takes the cake when it comes to the party I’ve supported since I was first old enough to vote in 1980. For the Democrats to do it so flagrantly and pass up one of the best candidates we’ve ever had is just incomprehensible. And just like the Republicans violated my principles of fairness in 2000 and 2004, the Democrats have earned my ire this year.

It will not matter if you force her out. At this point, it is not about Hillary, although if there is a cheesy and sentimental deus ex machina in this plot, I will not be disappointed. No, my biggest disappointment is with the party that has behaved so reprehensibly towards the Hillary and those of us in the so-called “old coalition”. There is nothing that says we have to transfer our enthusiasm from Hillary to Obama and I don’t think it’s going to happen. I could be wrong but let’s just call it a gut feeling.

You have promoted a failure and sat on your best candidate. It is unforgivable. The party is a mess and deserves a complete teardown. It has stated that it no longer wishes to represent us. Therefore, we feel no obligation to vote for Obama. We’re independents now and he will have to work twice as hard to win us back, if this is even possible.

So, if I were you guys, I would stop pushing unless you want to make the situation worse.

Obama’s misleading coronation – With important UPDATE

[UPDATE] Please read Riverdaughter’s comment below!

No Quarter posted this easy to follow post of the Primary results:

It’s a Tie! (Popular Vote v. Pledged Delegates)
Here are the final totals:

POPULAR VOTE (all primaries and caucuses)
Hillary Clinton: 17,785,009
Barack Obama: 17,479,990

PLEDGED DELEGATES
Barack Obama: 1766.5
Hillary Clinton: 1639.5

Currently, 2118 delegates are needed to win the nomination, according to the DNC. A successful appeal of the RBC’s recent decisions on Florida and Michigan would change that threshold to 2210, but that’s less relevant now because the pledged delegate allocations are fairly final (pending completion of state conventions) and, again, neither Clinton nor Obama will have enough pledged delegates to reach either 2118 or 2210.

Rezko “Not Guilty” on 8 of 24 counts

Guilty of wire and mail fraud, money laundering, aiding and abetting bribery. Acquitted on attempted extortion! More proof of Obama’s excellent judgment!

Remember, Rezko is a sideshow. Hillary towers over Obama on politics, policy, and personal qualities of leadership. This is an Open Thread.

UPDATE: In comments, Pat Johnson breaks the news on Obama’s statement in response to the verdicts. See full text below the fold.

The New Math: Who won last night?

With 100% of precincts reporting, Hillary won South Dakota’s (closed) Primary 54,014 to 43,574 — for a margin of 10,440 popular votes. Also with 100% reporting, Obama won Montana’s (open) primary 102,373 to 74,792 — for a 27,581 vote margin.

But wait! By DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee precedent we can take exit polls into account, for an apples-to-apples comparison. On this basis, only 60% of MT’s 181,423 primary voters were Democrats, and they went for Obama just 53% to 45% … for a popular vote margin of 8,708. The over-all winner in last night’s combined events? Hillary, by 1,732 votes (and by 1 pledged delegate, 16-15)!

Viva, Hilaria! Go PUMA’s!

Hillary: I will continue; Confluencians & PUMAs: Us too.

By all accounts Hillary had a fabulous night last night. Do to a storm that knocked out our power (mister says it just came back on) I was totally disconnected from current events from about 8:15 last night until nearly 9 o’clock this morning. So I’ve been scrambling to catch up.

She’s asking us to Stand With Her. And I ask you to take a moment if you haven’t to visit her site right now and let her know that she can count on your support. We know that the pressure on her to quit must be unrelenting. That the people who stole her delegates last Saturday will do anything to stop this campaign. The only support she has is us. This is the day our support matters most.

The best thing is that I missed all the live action gnashing of teeth by the BOYZ. The saddest part of all was missing Hillary’s speech:

And for those of you (like me) who can’t watch videos where you are. Riverdaughter posted some of it this morning. But because I couldn’t watch it with you last night, I want to share the experience now:

Wednesday: Rebels

Whoa! What happened last night? PUMAs, I think we just became problem children. Who would have thought that in the heart of Hillary Clinton, little Miss Perfect, every strand of her blonde coif perfectly in place, every policy position presentation perfectly polished, would be an in your face, “Oh, yeah? Make me!”, rebel yelling for R-E-S-P-E-C-T?!

Damn, I wish I hadn’t weaned myself off network and cable news.  Seeing the explosions of all those talking heads must have been pretty sweet when she did not act like a lady and graciously leave the stage.

So, what do the kids want now?  Hillary says:

“You know, I understand that a lot of people are asking, what does Hillary want? What does she want? Well, I want what I have always fought for in this whole campaign. I want to end the war in Iraq. I want to turn this economy around. I want health care for every American. I want every child to live up to his or her God-given potential, and I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard and no longer to be invisible.

You see, I have an old-fashioned notion, one that’s been the basis of my candidacy and my life’s work, that public service is about helping people solve their problems and live their own dreams. This nation has given me every opportunity, and that’s what I want for every single American.

That’s why I want universal health care. It is wrong that Americans pay 50% more for health care than the people of any other wealthy nation, with costs doubling this decade and nearly 50 million people without any health insurance at all. It is wrong for parents to have to choose between care for themselves or their children, to be stuck in dead-end jobs just to keep their insurance or to give up working altogether so their kids will qualify for Medicaid. I have been working on this issue not just for the past 16 months, but for 16 years. And it is a fight I will continue until every single American has health insurance. No exceptions and no excuses.

I want an economy that works for all families. That’s why I have been fighting to create millions of new jobs in clean energy and rebuilding our infrastructure, jobs to come to all of our states and urban and rural areas and suburban communities and small towns. That’s why I sounded the alarm on the home mortgage crisis well over a year ago, because these are the issues that will determine whether we will once again grow together as a nation or continue to grow apart. And I want to restore America’s leadership in the world. I want us to be led once again by the power of our values, to have a foreign policy that is both strong and smart, to join with our allies and confront our shared challenges from poverty and genocide to global terrorism and global warming.

These are the issues that brought me into this race. They are the life blood of my campaign, and they have been and will continue to be the causes of my life. And your spirit has inspired me every day in this race.

Why are they so anti-establishment? Let’s turn this country on it’s head!

Don’t trust anyone under 30.