I woke up last night feeling like I was suffocating, because in my dream I was. It began in a church, or an old university lecture hall. Antique. And everyone in attendance was being asked to say little prayers honoring Jesus. Everyone was reciting little prayers that are common among the devout. But when it was my turn, I stood and exclaimed: Jesus was a ph […]
Please listen to the lyrics of this song, it’s feel good, get up, fight for a brand new day song that moves the soul. Never give up and never give in! Carry on to Denver, Hillary!!!
I know that we all feel disillusioned sometimes, that we are fighting the impossible, but Paul’s call was definitely a sign that all our hard work is going to pay off. We are standing our ground – and we are being heard!
Paul called in to talk to us about Hillary’s blog chat tomorrow at noon @ www.hillaryclinton.com. He also gave me the thrill of a lifetime to know that all of our PUMA PROWLS from PUMAPAC is reaching DNC officals and we’re making a difference! Please log in and sign up if you haven’t already.
Rico – I need some Pink Pumas STAT for all Conflucians. If you have some change – please click on the brown lunch bag. Flo’s got the night off, but I’ll be here tending the baddies just in case.
Apparently I should have addressed my morning post directly to Howard Dean. Heidi Li had this to say about his recent attempts to mislead voters about the current situation regarding efforts to get Hillary’s name entered for nomination:
Clearly convention fever is beginning to hit the DNC (the Democratic National Committee) and the DNCC (the Democratic National Convention Committee), and not in a fun way. Delegates across the country are working to figure out how to enter a candidate’s name into nomination via a petition from the floor at the Convention. They report the dissemination of information from the DNC that they regard as an effort to interfere with their efforts to produce a proper petition that Senator Clinton could, if she chose, sign and thereby have her name placed into formal nomination as a candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination. The delegates – and not only Clinton delegates, but ones pledged to Senator Obama as well – appear to be frustrated because they cannot get anybody at the DNC to clarify.
Gandhi once said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” This week, we’re in the combat zone. The fur is flying and the pressure is intensifying. Tonight on Sheri’s show, Darragh Murphy, Will Bower and I will be covering the news of the week, Denver, and all the skullduggery that the DNC is engaging in to keep everything as mysterious and nebulous as possible. Everybody hold hands, stick together and look both ways before crossing the street. Howard Dean might be barreling down on you.
Update: Yipee!!! Check out this piece from ABCNews. Hillary wants to have her say in Denver and isn’t ruling anything out. In Your Face, Howard Fineman!
It’s important to remember that Democratic delegates aren’t PUMA — they can’t be. Delegates are bound to support the nominee whoever it may be while PUMAs are commited to opposing Obama if he is the nominee. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t share a deep commitment to Hillary. In an exciting development, yesterday we saw Texas delegate, Gary Mauro explain why it’s necessary that Hillary’s name be entered for nomination at the convention.
But, Gary (unlike a PUMA) was careful to pledge support to Obama should he win the nomination.
Pressure is mounting on Democratic Delegates as we get closer to the convention. It’s coming from us and (if there’s a difference) it’s coming from the DNC & the Obama Campaign. We know that anything approaching PUMA is a dangerous label for a Delegate. Just ask Debra Bartoshevich a Wisconsin Hillary delegate who lost her convention credentials when she pledged her vote to John McCain if Obama is the Democratic nominee.
It’s exciting to see more and more Hillary Delegates supporting the petition to put her name in nomination. But, signing that petition — sharing that petition — does not make them PUMA.
Yep, according to the NYTimes this morning. The Dauphin of Democracy, that paragon of virtue, takes little donations from wee, little people and he’s not too humble to tell you about it every chance he gets. But it turns out that this may not be the whole story:
In an effort to cast himself as independent of the influence of money on politics, Senator Barack Obama often highlights the campaign contributions of $200 or less that have amounted to fully half of the $340 million he has collected so far.
But records show that one-third of his record-breaking haul has come from donations of $1,000 or more: a total of $112 million, more than Senator John McCain, Mr. Obama’s Republican rival, or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his opponent in the Democratic primaries, raised in contributions of that size.
Nice haul there, Barry. “But!”, the Obamaphile protests, “he can’t know where all of that money comes from. He’s busy running a campaign. His finance people probably aren’t telling him.” The Times reporters helpfully explain:
While his campaign has cited its volume of small donations as a rationale for his decision to opt out of public financing for the general election, Mr. Obama has worked to build a network of big-dollar supporters from the time he began contemplating a run for the United States Senate. He tapped into well-connected people in Chicago prior to the 2004 Senate race, and once elected, set out across the country starting to cultivate some of his party’s most influential money collectors.
He courted them with the savvy of a veteran politician, through phone calls, meals and one-on-one meetings; he wrote thank-you cards and remembered birthdays; he sent them autographed copies of his book and doted on their children.
Awww, how thoughtful. {{sigh}} It appears that Barry is well aware of the big donors after all, having courted them and all.
{{shaking Firefox at the NYTimes site}} There’s something wrong with the Times this morning. It seems insufficiently fawning. Maybe Adam Nagourney should have a talk with Luo and Drew and tell them to expect a call from Obama’s people to their editors if they keep this up.
It turns out that many of these people are from the finance, investment and securities trade. You know, brokers and hedge fund managers. I can’t imagine what they want from Obama, the man of the little people. And Obama just can’t help schmoozing these bundlers to pieces:
They met for Chinese food in Washington the following week, and Mr. Obama scored points with Mr. Solomont when he pointed out that they had both been community organizers earlier in their careers.
“I’ve been involved in politics a long time,” Mr. Solomont said. “Nobody’s bothered to know that about me.”
Wow, I got all choked up there for a moment. That’s really touching. Only an expert schmoozer could pull that off and make it look sincere. Smooth. And it never hurts to start early:
In December, Mr. Obama visited the New York office of the billionaire investor George Soros to court a roomful of high-powered Democratic fund-raisers, hoping to lure some of them away from Mrs. Clinton. Not everyone was swayed, but Mr. Obama won over Orin Kramer, a hedge-fund executive from New Jersey, and Mr. Wolf, the UBS executive, both of whom are now among Mr. Obama’s biggest fund-raisers.
(Hedge funds, hedge funds. Aren’t those the “instruments” designed to bet on the market? Now, why would they want Obama…?)
Anyway, go read the whole thing. Obama’s campaign expect the booty from the biggies to increase with respect to all of his donations. I can’t understand why this is. Surely, SURELY, the little people will increase their giving in order to keep up. Otherwise, Obama may feel obligated to devote more of his attention to the Hedge Fund managers. Nahhh, that would never happen.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton writes a piece for the Wall Street Journal where she shames the offshore accounts of some of the Bushies biggest scam artists like Halliburton, who feed off of our latest tragedies and wars. In No Crisis is Immune from Exploitation Under Bush, Clinton proposes a series of steps and a commission to root out waste, fraud and abuse of the Bushie contractors. She says the country needs a president who will say “The Buck Stops Here”. Someone like Truman. Oddly, she makes no mention of Obama.
LetFreedomRing found this nifty video of a TownHall meeting with Obama that didn’t get off on the right foot:
This complete rainbow was photographed at 30,000 feet by Lloyd J. Ferraro. "The 'Private Sector' Is Government 'Contracting Out' Its Functions: We live in a society, and getting things done for society is what government is for. Government is society's way to make decisions about society's resources, economy and future. Per […]
Yep, according to the 
The Confluence 