Rallying Cry

No Way. No How. No McCain.

Nuff Said.....

It's over...

Ladies and gentlemen… while the traditional media does its best to pump up the silly drama about the sixty or so (yes, sixty… McCain probably has more keys for all his houses) PUMA’s that continue to defy logic and intelligence and hold out for Sen. Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee… despite the fact she isn’t asking them to do so… it’s time to recognize this simple fact.

It’s over. Clinton lost… Sen. Obama won. Let it go.

Why would I say such a thing? Simply put, Ms. Clinton knocked it out of the park last night with her speech at the convention.

During the ramp-up to her appearance, I began to worry that her delivery would be muted, which would have caused every media person’s head to explode in order to say obtuse things such as; ‘her reserve shows anger’ or ‘her lack of fire shows a lack of support.’

But she quickly dismissed that notion as she gave an enthusiastic speech that didn’t contain any bitterness or regrets… and she did what she HAD to do; she called her own supporters onto the carpet and told them, in no uncertain words, that this campaign was about more than her… it was about getting rid of the same ole, same ole… it was about electing a Democrat into the White House… it was about getting America back on track… it was about beating Sen. McCain (“No way. No how. No McCain”)…

It was about getting behind and electing Barack Obama.

She voiced her support for Obama as strong as anyone could have expected, perhaps more so.

She was fiery, smart, funny, passionate, and pulled no punches when it was time to take the fight to republicans in general and John McCain specifically, saying; “It makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart.” She followed that up with a scathing; “We don’t need four more years of the last eight years.”

Ouch, that’s gotta hoit…

Naturally there have been a plethora of blogs and media analyzing her speech to death… and every word, every movement, every gesture will be examined.

Regardless of how she arrived to this point… she arrived. She put aside her personal hurt and gave her full, unequivocal support to Obama.

And I embrace that… but I still have a problem. And that problem is people whose heads are so far up their asses that they don’t see that this election is NOT ABOUT THEM… and it’s not about Hillary Clinton.

It’s about pushing the republicans out… and the Democrats in.

Ever gracious, Obama phoned Clinton after her speech… from AP; “After leaving the house party [in Billings, Montana], Senator Obama called and talked for several minutes with Senator Hillary Clinton saying how grateful he was for her support, that she gave a terrific speech and that all those he watched with in Billings, MT were moved by her video and introduction from Chelsea. Also said he loved her line "No way, no how, no McCain." […] Senator Obama also called and spoke with President Bill Clinton for several minutes saying Senator Clinton could not have been better and made the case for change. Obama said he knew how proud he must have been watching as he was last night watching Michelle speak and how grateful he was for their support.”

I know some Obama supporters will still complain that her speech wasn’t enough, it should have come earlier… yada, yada, yada…

The truth of the matter is it was enough…and it came at the perfect time when she had the undivided attention of the masses, thus eliminating the worry that only a few would see her message of unity.

It’s over… it’s done… if the woman who they were supposedly figting for is calling for the animonsity to end… then end it must.

To do otherwise would be foolish, inane, and destructive… to the Democratic Party, and our great nation.

Move on… let it go… get behind Obama.

Hillary has.

Who has the unity problem again?

During yesterday’s ‘Daily’ I mentioned Oklahoma Congressional Democrat Dan Boren who said he is refusing to endorse his party’s nominee, Sen. Obama.

One Democrat says he won’t endorse his party’s candidate and it dominates the news. You surf news sites and you see headlines like ‘Not all Democrats falling for Obama” and “Not all Democrats going for Obama”…

News about 14 of them coming out and saying they wont’ endorse their party’s candidate should be BIG news too, right?

Apparently not, because that’s what’s happening to Sen. McCain, and so far the main-stream media has been abnormally silent on the subject.

From The Hill; “At least 14 Republican members of Congress have refused to endorse or publicly support Sen. John McCain for president, and more than a dozen others declined to answer whether they back the Arizona senator [...] McCain’s campaign seized on some Democrats’ reticence about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), issuing a release on Tuesday that highlighted that Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.) is not endorsing the presumptive nominee. While some conservative Democrats have yet to endorse Obama and didn’t back Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004, there are both centrist and conservative Republicans representing various parts of the country who are not embracing McCain. [ …] Republican members who have not endorsed or publicly backed McCain include Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Reps. Jones, Peterson, John Doolittle (Calif.), Randy Forbes (Va.), Wayne Gilchrest (Md.), Virgil Goode (Va.), Tim Murphy (Pa.), Ron Paul (Texas), Ted Poe (Texas), Todd Tiahrt (Kan.), Dave Weldon (Fla.) and Frank Wolf (Va.).”

Now… unless my math is wrong (and it’s not), I count at the least 26 republicans that are trying to distance themselves from McCain.

Some of the names included are meaningless as they are not running for re-election and are lame-ducks; would YOU want an endorsement from Larry Craig?

We knew Ron Paul and his supporters wouldn’t support McCain (especially since they still have a notion of getting the nomination), and Hagel isn’t a surprise either considering that Hagel is a very vocal opponent to the Bush(whacked) Administration's policies on Iraq (and thus McCain’s policies on Iraq) and is a co-sponsor of the Webb GI Bill proposal that McCain vehemently opposes.

Having said all that, while some of the names are meaningless, some aren’t and carry a stigma with not getting their endorsement.

Some of those refusing to endorse McCain are facing serious challenges to retaining their seats such as Virgil Goode, Don Young and possibly Frank Wolf.

And still others seem in no jeopardy to lose re-election (Jeff Sessions, Buck McKeon, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Rep. Randy Forbes) and one is forced to wonder why they have either the opposition or the reluctance to endorse McCain?

We know McCain is not the favorite of quite a few republican Senators (Pete Domenici and Chuck Grassley immediately come to mind when you consider Senators who have been turned off by McCain's previous actions and words), but these lists represent a substantial chunk of the republican membership of the 110th Congress.

That’s not even taking the Bob Barr campaign into account.

And consider this also; last week, Simon Rosenberg, head of the New Democratic Network, said at a forum that McCain was the “worst presidential candidate” in the nation’s modern political history, and contended that there was a “25% chance” that he would be replaced as the Party’s nominee.

Could you imagine that? While it’s true that there is no role for super-delegates in the republican party like we have in the Democratic party, there are more than a few republicans worried that McCain's campaign has the potential of inflicting some serious damage down-ballot.

They see the gaffes, the mis-statements, the disorganization and worry that at some point the press narrative might flip-flop themselves and, rather than be overtly friendly and give McCain a pass on his screw-ups, and start delving deeper into this errs, thus making the narrative, implicitly, raise questions about McCain's readiness for high office… could enough stories about him not remembering his own legislation or statements he has previously made on the record be the start of a discussion of whether he is too old or lacks the "necessities" of meeting the demands of the office?

We Democrats are right to not take anything for granted, especially when we’re still this far out from the actual election… before VP selections are made and convention speeches are given and joint appearances are made… but I AM encouraged by the apparent disunity in the gop…

Granted, some of Clinton's voters are still being antagonistic, but almost all of the Congressionals that HAD supported her are now moving their support to Obama… and when you contrast that with the lists above, it makes you want to know one thing.

Explain to me which party has the ‘unity’ problem again…

Let's get it done... sooner, not later

With another primary a week away, DNC chairman Howard Dean is once again trying to nudge the as-of-now-un-pledged super-delegates (could I have more hypens?) into making their choice known by June 4th, the day after the final Democratic primary.

Said Dean; "We want the voters to have their say. That's over on June 3. […] We really can't have a divided convention. If we do it's going to be very hard to heal the party afterwards. So we'll know who the nominee is, and that'll give us an extra 2 1/2 months to get our party together, heal the wounds of having a very closely divided race and take on Sen. McCain.”

Granted, Democratic Party rules enable the super-delegates to wait until the presidential nominating convention in Denver on Aug. 25 to make a choice, but Dean says, correctly I might add, that the party cannot wait that long if it hopes to beat Republican John McCain in November.

If we do, it will be that many additional months for McBush to trot out the same old, same old that we’ve come to know and abhor with George Bush in office for eight years.

The Democrats still have a better than average shot at getting back into the White House, but we need to make a move sooner rather than later, and having the nominating process drag out that long would be detrimental to the party…

Regardless of his ‘presumptive nominee’ status, there are still quite a few republicans out there that aren’t sold on Sen. McCain, witness 25% of republican Pennsylvanians voting for Huckabee and Paul last week… and with a weak candidate on that side, we have an opportunity to get a Liberal back in the White House and attempt to clean up the mess that 8 truly horrifying years of George Bush has done.

Stay tuned…

Yes, but...

Lost in all the hoopla surrounding the Democrats in yesterday’s Pennsylvania primary is the fact that the republicans also had their primary.

Yes, they have a presumptive nominee in Sen. John McCain… but have you actually LOOKED at the numbers?

With close to 100% of precincts reporting with 791,205 votes (as compared to 2,280,870 on the Democratic side);

McCain – 72.7%, Ron Paul – 15.9%, and Mike Huckabee – 11.4%.

Wow… over a quarter of the republicans who decided to venture out and vote voted against, against, their party’s certain nominee.

I don’t know about you, but to me this looks like the republican party has some serious issues.

Yes, the Democrats are hurting themselves by not having the opportunity to focus on what matters (beating McCain in November), but when over a quarter of your party votes for someone BESIDES your presumptive nominee; you’ve got problems too. For all intents and purposes, when given the so-called disarray surrounding the Democratic primary, McCain should be kicking ass, taking names and leading both Obama and Hillary by 9-10 percentage points.

He’s not… and while some republican lemmings pundits are resolute that McCain will win on the economy and security, we know better.

McCain has admitted weaknesses on economic issues and his stalwart support for the erstwhile Iraq war is wearing thin with a LOT of voters.

And let’s not lose sight of something else; over 2 million Democrats voted in yesterday’s primary… 2 million!

While yesterday’s results may be frustrating for Obama supporters and a reprieve, of sorts, for Clinton supporters, what should stoke you for this election cycle is the overall level of interest, enthusiasm, and participation by Democrats.

If the current trend continues of new voter registration rising (especially among young people) and the rise in the number of voters that are identifying themselves as Democrats this November will not only be a watershed moment in Democratic politics, but historical as well.

Stay tuned…

A Plea to Democrats

A few weeks back, Scott and I endorsed Sen. Barack Obama as our choice for the Democratic nomination, and since then, the two of us, and everyone else, have seen our party become fractured and, in turn, a little weak.

It’s time that we all get over this Obama-Clinton feud, a feud that has become far more divisive than it ever should have and has, at times, reduced intelligent, educated and decent people into something that resembles children fighting over a box of crayons.

The decision over our party’s nominee will eventually be made and that will be that; God-willing.

The arguing between each candidate’s supporters is rising to ridiculous proportions and that must stop… now… because a real fight is coming, and that fight is, of course, the fight to oust the republican party from the White House.

I still believe the Democrats will regain control of the presidency in November, but we need to stop wasting our time arguing amongst ourselves. I understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion and has their favorite… but what I am worried about are those Democrats that have their eyes on voting for John McCain, Ralph Nader or some other inconsequential schlub rather than their party’s nominee.

That talk needs to stop… Right. Now.

As an Obama supporter, the actions of Sen. Clinton have shocked me and have made me lose not only respect for her, but for former president Clinton as well. Having said that, if she were to get the nomination, I would vote for her in a heartbeat if it would mean keeping the gop out of the White House for at least four years.

Those that support Clinton have been shocked by the actions, or at times, inactions, of Sen. Obama. Having said that, a few Clinton supporters I’ve talked to have vowed to vote for him over McCain if he were to win the nomination.

What troubles me are those Obama and Clinton supporters that have said they would vote for someone else if the other gets the nomination…

Explain to me how that would help this nation?

The war in Iraq, the economy, healthcare, education, all of these and more have suffered greatly after 8 years of the Bush White House, and while I, personally, think Sen. Obama would offer more hope for this country, I am also confident that Sen. Clinton would be a huge boost to the nation as well.

Certainly more so than Sen. McBush would… all he would offer is four more years of Bush-like politics; ignoring the Constitution, supporting an unjust and deadly war, further pushing down the middle class and forcing us further into a recession.

So it is for that reason that TBWA endorses both candidates for the presidency.

Should Sen. Barack Obama win, we will offer our full-throated support for him to beat McCain in November.

http://www.barackobama.com/

Should Sen. Hillary Clinton win, we will offer our full-throated support for her to beat McCain in November.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/

All Democrats and Liberals should choose this option for any other choice, would be foolishly leaving the White House in republican hands for at least four more years.

And our nation can not handle that any more…

Stop the arguing, look further down the road and realize that the real fight is coming.

Unite as one party…

Support one party…

Vote, one party…

Our livelihoods depend on it…