Red Hot & Blue Politics

Former President Bill Clinton will speak at the Democratic Convention tonight at 9PM EDT. The media buzz today is split between what Bill will say tonight and Hillary’s electrifying speech last night. Hillary proved once again why she should be the party nominee above and beyond the fact she won 18 million votes, more votes than Obama and only a handful of delegates separate them. It was a great speech and she did what she needed to do for the party. In case you missed it, you can catch her speech here.

I will follow Hillary, but I stop dead in my tracks at supporting Obama. I’ve been reflecting on this campaign, on Hillary, and on her ground breaking candidacy. I truly believe that not only did she stir something deep within her supporters, she brought hope, real tangible hope. When Hillary said that she was “in it to win it,” I knew she meant it. I activated. She would have won back the White House. We all know it.

I wish I could support Obama as the party nominee. I’ve supported every nominee since 1988. I wish I could celebrate his historic candidacy. But I cannot. He didn’t earn it. He is still virtually unvetted; he has lied to the American people about himself and where he stands on the issues. He won caucuses by cheating. He is a fraud who was carried on the media’s shoulders and the DNC selected him.

Hillary went through her trial by fire and emerged a blazing victor without the spoils of the victory. This great lady in a blazing orange pant suit, showing the whole world what it means to be a gracious and graceful victor who must hand the victory to someone less deserving.

She is a better woman than I’ll ever hope to be. That’s what I want in my President. Someone who understands our struggles, but can rise above it with grace and fortitude and lead us into a better tomorrow.

The ever awesome, Anglachel, has a great post analyzing Hillary’s speech, Duty, Unity and Transcendence, which explains the significance far better than I could that:

Her speech was a work of brilliance…It was, first and foremost, a speech about politics. It had plenty of “human interest” and even humor in it. We most certainly got a look into the mind and heart of this woman. But what it was, from the first line to the last, was a full-force evocation of what it means to be a Democrat. In a season where we have been bombarded by bipartisan, everybody let’s hug, don’t say anything bad about the Republicans, don’t be partisan be Obamacan, Unity Ponies for everyone balderdash, Hillary took the party by the scruff of its dithering neck and made it look at the reason we are a party in the first place.

The invocations of all of her identities became the warp into which she wove the woof of policy, belief, and acts, creating a mantle - Democrat. I am a Democrat for these reasons - these reasons are why I must call myself a Democrat. She was unapologetically partisan in every sentence. She explained, with the examples from her campaign, why she is driven to serve. She gave notice that for her this is a duty and that the hatred heaped upon her has no effect.

Anglachel lifts the toilet lid a bit on the vitriol unleashed on HRC:

Evidently Chris Matthews said that there was no evidence of defeat in this speech. Why would there be? It is entirely a media narrative, helped along mightily by the pool boys of the fauxgressive blogosphere, that they were “finally rid of the Clintons.” They wanted suffering, shame, penance, begging for forgiveness and Hillary just handed them a steaming super-sized mug of shut the fuck up. As she was never a media darling, they cannot touch her - she is impervious. She walked off that stage the most powerful person in the Deomcratic Party, owning nothing to any of the power brokers because she has given it all to the Party. That is her duty, there lie her obligations, and that is what she is here to defend.

More on who really is the transcendent candidate:

Many people have talked about Obama as a “transcendent” candidate, someone who is “post-partisan,” “post-racial,” calls us to something higher, and so forth. What Hillary did on that stage tonight was demonstrate what true political transcendence looks like. Surrounded by heart-broken supporters, hateful detractors, an unflaggingly hostile media, and looking at the faces of her colleagues who have treated her in the most despicable way possible for months on end, she spoke passionately and without rancor to all of them. Her personal grace and decency were rivaled only by her political integrity and loyalty. She has transcended the brutality and cruelty visited upon her in this primary. The political ground that lies within her reach has been swept clean of any barriers, impediments or stumbling blocks.

Anglachel raises this challenge for Obama:

Obama wanted to be the Democratic nominee in the worst way possible. He got his wish. Tonight, Hillary showed him the only way out of his predicament. It is now all on Obama’s head to show he is half the Democrat she is.

This is now Obama’s election to win or lose for Democrats. Obama arrogantly asserted that he could win Hillary’s voters, but he doubted that she could win his. Obama surrogates have arrogantly asserted that they have a new coalition and can win without the old Democratic party base. Good luck trying you arrogant sh!theads.

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Our PUMA friends in Denver are live blogging at these sites:

The Confluence
PUMA Pac
The Denver Group
Alegre’s Corner
Peacock’s and Lillies

The Confluence’s, Katiebird, has another great round-up from the blogs from yesterday.

No We Won’t PUMA radio is airing live from the convention with host, Sheri Tag. I’ve posted a Blog Talk Radio mini player to get show feeds right here at Red Hot & Blue. The show was late yesterday and didn’t air until after Hillary’s speech. The show tonight is scheduled for 9:00 EDT, but it might not get started until after Bill’s speech. Don’t worry if you have missed any shows. The shows are archived and can be played anytime.

Doesn’t look like Barack (a.k.a. Barry Soetoro) is getting any bounce from naming Biden as his “side kick” or from the lovely convention scripted to coronate him Lord of the Democrats.

As of today, Gallop has McCain up by 2% over Obama, 46% to 44%, and Rasmussen has them tied. Rassmussen also reports that “among voters surveyed, 43% say Clinton would do better against the Republican candidate, while 41% prefer Obama.

When has a presumptive Democratic Party nominee been dropping in the polls during the convention? This is completely unheard of and a big fat red flag for the general election. Here is the bad news from the pollsters:

USA Today, Sunday, 8/24:
(h/t to Carolyn Kay at MakeThemAccountable.com)

From USA Today: More than half of Clinton backers still not sold on Obama

Fewer than half of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s supporters in the presidential primaries say they definitely will vote for Barack Obama in November, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, evidence of a formidable challenge facing Democrats as their national convention opens here today. In the survey, taken Thursday through Saturday, 47% of Clinton supporters say they are solidly behind Obama, and 23% say they support him but may change their minds before the election. Thirty percent say they will vote for Republican John McCain, someone else or no one at all.“

Gallop, Tuesday, 8/26:

Gallup Daily: No Bounce for Obama in Post-Biden Tracking

Gallup Poll Daily tracking interviewing from Saturday, Sunday, and Monday indicates that Barack Obama has received no bounce in voter support from his selection of Sen. Joe Biden to be his vice presidential running mate. The race remains virtually tied with John McCain now slightly ahead 46%-44%.

Rasmussen Reports, Tuesday, 8/26:

From Rasmussen’s Daily Tracking Poll:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows Barack Obama attracting 44% of the vote while John McCain also earns 44%. When “leaners” are included, it’s still tied with Obama at 46% and McCain at 46%. Yesterday, with leaners, Obama had a three-point advantage over McCain (see recent daily results).

…more from the Daily Tracking Poll:

Today’s results are the first based entirely upon interviews conducted since Joe Biden was named to be Obama’s running mate.

Obama’s support has declined in each of the last three individual nights of polling. This may be either statistical noise or a reaction to the selection of Biden. If it’s the latter, it probably has less to do with Biden than Hillary Clinton. Forty-seven percent (47%) of Democratic women say Clinton should have been picked and 21% of them say they’ll vote for McCain.

Also from Rasmussen’s Report:

Among all voters surveyed, 43% say Clinton would do better against the Republican candidate, while 41% prefer Obama, who this week is expected to become the first African-American nominated as the presidential candidate of a major political party.

We’ve been hearing since June how Hillary supporters will come back into the fold. Well, we’ve been telling you that it isn’t going to happen and we’ve been crystal clear with our reasons why we aren’t.

DO YOU HEAR US NOW!?!

Crossposted at Alegre’s Corner

[UPDATED] Don’t miss Campskunk’s post, Hillary Approval up 6% in Gallup; Hillary 3% Better vs. McCain than Obama. So, both Gallop and Rasmussen have Hillary polling better than Obama against McCain!

Hillary Clinton will speak at the Democratic Party Convention in Denver tonight in the 10 - 11 PM EDT time slot (not prime time as advertised).

We are staying up-to-date with the latest Obama/DNC thuggery to subvert an open, honest roll call vote at the convention.

[UPDATE 1 from hapi22 in our HV group] I have never in my life seen a Democratic candidate pull as many thuggish tricks as Obama has. Now, he seems to want the roll-call vote — the roll call with Hillary included — to be done in the hotels at breakfast time so the media won’t be able to cover it. Then, at night, with the cameras rolling, they would hold the roll-call that would nominate Obama. I kid you not.

Obama, Clinton camps working on hotel roll-call vote

Supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton are furiously circulating petitions on the floor of the Democratic National Convention tonight, hoping to stave off a plan to hold the convention’s roll call at breakfast Wednesday — out of the public eye — sources inside the delegations say.

The move being worked out between the Obama campaign and officials behind Clinton’s suspended bid, would work in two parts: Delegates would cast votes at their hotels Wednesday morning; that night, at the Pepsi Center convention site, the roll-call process would  RELY  ON  the votes cast that morning, the delegates said.

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, a former state co-chair for Clinton said she knows the camps are in negotiations about what to do.

“My view is we need to come together as a party,” DeGette said. “I admire Hillary Clinton greatly, but I think it would be divisive to have a vote on the floor. We need to have a unanimous vote.”

[NOTE FROM hapi22: I have to ask: "Why?"  The Democrats were supposed to sweep away the Republicans this year by hefty margins ... by at LEAST 20 points ... the Republicans are in such disfavor that my turtle could have won the presidency for the Democrats ... but Obama "has" to rig everything to give the impression he has support among Democrats????   Why?   I'll tell you why: because Barack Obama has now been revealed to more people than just me as a slimy, lying, narcissistic, thug with criminal tendencies that, in retrospect,  make Richard Nixon look like an Eagle Scout. Why is Obama struggling in the polls and needing to wallpaper over the hatred among Democrats for him? Because Obama is an inexperienced, unprepared-to-be-president, nasty, American-values-hating, lying, cheating creep.]

The evening event would call on the delegation from Illinois, which Obama serves as the junior senator, and then move to New York, which Clinton represents.

After New York delegates applaud Clinton’s long-fought and historic candidacy, a motion would be made to accept the votes cast at breakfast.

The move is being resisted by some Clinton delegates, who are busy tonight circulating a petition among delegates as the opening night of the convention, titled “One Nation,” gets underway.

Read the REST of this at:  http://www.denverpost.com/ci_10301038

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[More responses to hapi22's comments]

Fox & Friends this morning reported that an anonimous Obama campain worker told them that the roll call vote for Hillary will be ochestrated in such a way to never let HRC’s delegate count exceed BO’s. They stated that if her numbers get too high, a state he handily won will be called next to keep the balace in his favor.

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[UPDATE 2] The Confluene’s, Katiebird, has a great round-up from the blogs from yesterday.

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Our PUMA friends in Denver are live blogging at these sites:

The Confluence
PUMA Pac
The Denver Group
Alegre’s Corner
Peacock’s and Lillies

No We Won’t PUMA radio is airing live from the convention with host, Sheri Tag. I’ve posted a Blog Talk Radio mini player to get show feeds right here at Red Hot & Blue. There were two shows yesterday and one show tonight at 9:00 EDT. Don’t worry if you have missed any shows. The shows are archived and can be played anytime.

We are staying up-to-date with the latest Obama/DNC thuggery to subvert an open, honest roll call vote at the convention. Our PUMA friends in Denver are live blogging at these sites:

The Confluence
PUMA Pac
The Denver Group
Alegre’s Corner
Peacock’s and Lillies

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We all remember Debra Bartoshevich, the delegate from Wisconsin who was unfairly stripped of her delegate status by the Wisconsin democratic party last month (LSekhmet’s diary has details.) Now Debra is openly supporting John McCain and is appearing in a new ad entitled “Debra” as a Hillary supporter. This is what happens folks when the DNC holds a sham primary, turns a blind eye to Obama’s caucus fraud, and allows the Obama campaign’s strong arm tactics. Behold, this is how Obama has brought “unity” to our party.

Crossposted at Alegre’s Corner

How are you going to feel if the DNC forces a symbolic roll call vote? The last straw; my sentiments exactly! Enough is enough. This is the United States of America, not China or Russia. This is a democracy of the people, by the people. Delegates need to vote the will of the people, not the will of the DNC. The Obama and DNC strong arming and thuggery must end now!

Hopefully, this effective new ad by The Denver Group will give the delegates the courage to stand up for and represent the will of the voter and encourage the DNC to listen to their better angels. The group’s latest print ad, Last Straw, will appear today, Monday August 25 in The Hill’s DNC edition, which will be distributed in Denver.

Click on ad to view larger image.

Here is what The Denver Group has to say about their Last Straw ad:

This adverstisement will appear in print in the Monday edition of The Hill’s special Democratic National Party Convention.

For those not familiar with The Hill, here is some information from them regarding their target audience and how The Hill is making sure to reach that audience.

The DNC editions will feature hard-hitting news from the convention site. Our full staff of editors and reporters will be in Denver working on late deadlines allowing for the most up-to-date features and articles on convention coverage. Monday we will distribute to our regular subscriber base – 22, 795 plus 15,000 at each convention city. Tuesday-Thursday, The Hill will be printed locally at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and distributed to the Denver hotel rooms, lobbies and convention center. Again, 15,000 plus for each Denver issue.

Get fired up, folks. We’ve got action items for today. Check the front page (at Alegre’s Corner) and stay tuned for more action diaries. We need your participation because this fight isn’t over.

Crossposted at Alegre’s Corner

[UPDATED] From Heidi Li Feldman, J.D., Ph.D., co-founder of The Denver Group, with a snip from USA Today.

In a just published story that includes coverage of the delegates and groups working to support their efforts to act honorably and conscientiously, USA Today noted The Denver Group:

At issue at the convention, of course, is not only what Clinton says but what her delegates do. Heidi Li Feldman, a Georgetown University law professor who helped organize the ad hoc The Denver Group, is among those who demanded that Clinton’s name be placed in nomination and a roll-call vote taken. A move to declare Obama the nominee by acclamation is not what they have in mind — even if that’s what Clinton proposes in her speech after a few states have cast their ballots. “When someone tries to ram a vote by acclamation, you can walk out of the convention,” Feldman says. “If you stay in that hall, you can stand up and say, ‘We will not be silenced.’ I tell them to stand up and sing, ‘We Shall Not Be Overcome.’ “ [emphasis added]

The new caucus fraud documentary trailer that I wrote about on August 22 has now been released as a four part YouTube series. I cannot stress enough how deeply troubling Team Obama’s caucus fraud was to many of us during the primaries and why I can say today that Obama is not the legitimate nominee of the Democratic Party. His delegate lead only exists if we, as a party, stand by his fraud. I will not. This is one of many reasons why I just say no deal to Obama, to fraud, and to the party that accepts voter fraud as it’s modus operandi.

Part 1: We will Not Be Silenced

Part 2: We Will Not Be Silenced

Part 3: We Will Not Be Silenced

Part 4: We Will Not Be Silenced

(h/t to campskunk at Alegre’s Corner for posting the vids)

This breaking news from Alegre:

Well we’ve all been hearing a great deal about Gigi Gaston’s documentary about the rampant fraud and illegalities surrounding the caucuses in this election.  Gigi Gaston, filmmaker extraordinaire is putting together a feature-length documentary about the sorry state of this election, and it’s expected to be released early next year.

But we have a fairly lengthy teaser that’s just hit the Net, and some of the stuff in this video is absolutely jaw-dropping.  To think that this kind of fraud could happen in our country now - in the 21st century is just incredible.  More than that - all this was perpetrated by someone vowing to change how things are done in DC.

Alegre also received an email from John Siegel, Executive Producer, of We Will Not Be Silenced. Here is what Siegel has to say:

The information in the film is especially jarring for those who were not in caucus states, but it is information that our party must face. There is a reason why half of all Hillary voters are not currently willing to vote for Obama, and this is a big part of it.

As I told my friend Rep. Lois Capps, whose son in law is Obama’s National Communications Director, it would be unfair and unethical to delegates, both pledged and super, to withhold this otherwise untold story prior to their floor votes in Denver. This is, oddly, also an opportunity for unity; if the Obama campaign stated that they played rough in a caucus system that should be abolished, it would heal a lot of wounds.

We will have copies of the DVD with us if you need one in Denver.

http://wewillnotbesilenced2008.com

John Siegel
Executive Producer, We Will Not Be Silenced

I’m happy to hear that the delegates will get a glimpse of the caucus fraud we’ve been screaming about since Iowa. Here is a link to the We Will Not Be Silenced documentary trailer. It isn’t the best quality, but gives you an idea of what happened in those caucuses.

Also, yesterday, I posted about Dr. Lynette Long’s Caucus Analysis a great site and reference. It is a must read to understanding how the man known as Obama and his campaign committed fraud. Long says:

Approximately a year ago thousands of committed volunteers attended “Camp Obama,” a four-day indoctrination program, geared at teaching pre-screened Obama volunteers grass roots organizational strategies. The training, which specifically focused on the caucus states, taught volunteers to be “ruthless,” “take risks,” and win at all costs. Obama’s campaign and Camp Obama’s strategy which focused on the vulnerable caucuses and the early primaries worked. Obama only lost 1 out of 14 caucuses, a staggering achievement, especially when he lost 21 out of 38 primaries and scored a statistical tie in popular vote. How did he accomplish such an astonishing string of victories that would eventually define the Democratic Primary?

This documentary coupled with Dr. Lynnette Long’s Caucus Analysis proves this strategy came from the top down. This is part of the Obama brand.

I’m waiting out Fay and for flood waters to recede before venturing out to our beach hamlet to survey the damage. I will be offline for the rest of the day to partake in birthday festivities. Yes, it’s grlpatriot’s 38th birthday today. Sadly, I am without the wonderful birthday cake my partner ordered for me at our local bakery, but she baked me a birthday banana bread instead.

The Democratic Party convention is just a few short days away and PUMAs are preparing to pounce on Denver. Here are some blogs I frequent to stay current on the latest counter movement news.

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In an ad for the man known as Obama, targeting Michigan voters, Nancy Pelosi says that:

women have been the backbone for every movement for change in the history of our country.

That’s right, Nancy, we have and right now that movement is called PUMA/Just Say No Deal! We say NO Deal to the man known as Obama and the sham process that you used to select him, Nancy. If you really cared about women, Nancy, you will support Hillary Clinton, the candidate that believes women’s rights are human rights. Stand up for women, Nancy, and cast your vote for Hillary at the convention.

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