After Obama won Iowa, the media anointed him on the eve of the New Hampshire Primary on the strength of polling data.

Hillary won the Primary vote in the New Hampshire Primary.

What would otherwise have been a tremendous victory (Obama coming from 20 points down a month before the primary to damn near tying her on primary day) became a tremendous downer, giving Hillary momentum, and the rest, as they say is history.

So, as we sit back over joyed that a poll from PPP comes back with Obama on top (breaking the 45% threshold for only the first time this cycle), after initial polls shows him down NINETEEN POINTS, I think it needs to be said one more time....

Last night's debate was not just a low point in civil discourse, in mainstream journalism, or in educating the public.  It was also the end point for George Stephanopoulos's fall from principled Democratic fighter to sad media hack whose only object is to please his corporate pay-masters and to divert attention from the most exciting Presidential candidate in the last 40 years.

George's descent is strikingly illustrated by contrasting last night's "performance" with George's appearance in "The War Room", the brilliant D.A. Pennebaker documentary about Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign.

Everyone knows that the three principal aides to Clinton during that campaign were James Carville, George Stephanopoulos and Paul Begala.  Everyone also knows all three of them have cast their idealism aside to cash in on their name recognition to shill for CNN, ABC and CNN, respectively.  But not everyone remembers what Clinton's aides, particularly Carville and Stephanopoulos, were saying during those heady days during the 1992 Primary.  Luckily, we have the benefit of Youtube, and after you make your jump, I will show you just exactly how George has made his jump, right over the Shark.

It's 3 a.m.

I just finished writing a review for the local paper for a local production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Then, since it was late, I called one of my colleagues in Japan to talk a little business.

Not exactly saving the freeworld, but not bad for 3 in the morning.

My question of the day is:  Should I call Hillary?

This is the relief thread for anna's excellent Original Election Problems Thread.

Anyone posting to the original thread should post here.  

Please note:

Obama hotline for Texas: 877-48-OBAMA (h/t kath25).  
National hotline: 866-675-2008 (h/t NAS)
PFAW non-partisan election protection hotline 1-866-OUR-VOTE (h/t sele)
Clinton Texas hotline 1-877-472-9465 (h/t demosthenes)

Also:
critical ohio update!!:  We are seeing lots of voters who are registered not appearing on the voting rolls at some precincts.  These voters are being made to vote provisionally. Some voters who ARE on the rolls and requesting paper ballots are being given provisional ballots instead.  If you experience this please call the PFAW hotline in this diary.  PFAW - if they get enough reports - will send people.  ALso call the hotline corresponding to your candidate.  Thanks!

Good Afternoon Kossacks,

I most humbly beg this gentle plea.

Can we reserve the hour of 4 p.m. EST each day as a sort of "Happy Hour", the happiness coming from NOT posting any Candidate Diaries?

CUBS WIN!!!!

CUBS WIN!!!

No, I am heterosexual, married over ten years in fact, so I don't mean metaphorically.  Really, it's been something I have often thought about (or, more accurately, rationalized after I had failed to shave for 3-4 days) and now, this being the 4th day of a vacation, I find myself pondering the question again.

Vacation brings out those kind of seemingly meaningless decisions to the fore.  It's right up there with: "Where are we going for dinner tonight?"; "Should we worry whether the kids get to bed on time?" and "How much alcohol should we drink afterwards?"  You know how it is.

Part of me is just lamenting the fact that this vacation landed smack dab on top of YearlyKos, and so the quality of my decisions as represented above do not come near what I might otherwise have on my plate (like: "Should I attend this organization's party?" or "Can I make it in time for the energy panel?" or "Is Meteor Blades as cool in person as in print?")  But while the rest of you lucky devils get to weigh such matter, I'm sitting at my friends' house worried about my stubble matter.

I'm all for shooting the breeze about who we are and where we come from on this site.  I'm not about to claim that the profiling efforts made thus far amounts to trolling behavior, but I must say that when we start encouraging our members to disclose their respective arrest and prison records to the wide world, I have to put my voice to the word "enough".

About an hour ago I got into my first real argument with my four year old.  Like all such things, it began over something so incredibly trivial, so abjectly silly that I am still trying to figure out where it came from.  But in the end, it brought some clarity to me as to just how we ended up with George W. Bush as president.  Yeah, it's that profound.  I'll explain after the jump.

I know, provocative headline.  Crowds of 3 to 7 readers (the average for my entries) will angrily respond "It's never to late--what about the troops that are there now!  We need to get them out so as to prevent further death and injury to our troops and the further wasted expenditures that are bankrupting our treasury and selling our kid's future to the Chinese and other governments that are (for now at least) buying our debt."

Well, I agree with all of that.  I am an American but I do have a brain in my head (a disqualifying condition for employment in the executive branch, I'm afraid).  But that's not what I am talking about.  I'll explain after the jump.

 

at approximately 1:30 EDT, Speaker Hastert spoke on Rush Limbaugh's afternoon radio program.

Limbaugh through softballs; suggested that "his audience" were convinced that this scandel was a set up, that the Democrats "knew" about this for over a year, and "hit" the Republicans with it on the last day of the session before the recess.

Hastert's response? (See below)

I need to start by saying that I have been to Disney World at least 20 times in my life (for perspective, I am 34 years old and have lived in the Midwest my entire life).  I own just about every Disney Film, have listened to every Disney song, and few if any memories related to Disney, prior to this week, filled me with anything other than a sort of basking tranquility.

Well, with the recent events involving the pending ABC mockumentery, I felt I needed to share my perspective with the primary shareholder of the House of Mouse.  My letter to Steve Jobs is reproduced below.

We have all watched with amazement as Ned Lamont soared to victory in the first high profile national (despite what kos says) race supported by the netroots.

Kos suggested an action list. Well, its been at least 10 minutes since the victory/victory-tied-for-third speeches were given....what have you done to help Ned and bring Joe to his senses?

Here's what I did....

I went over to RedState to see what kind of Pravda-like response they would have to this development. Sure enough, the line is that Delay decided to "move on" for the good of the party.

Of particular interest, however, was one of the comments to the diary.  Flip over to see what "realamerican" had to say:

Those of you who read my previous post about getting a response to my letter urging Senator Durbin to support the censure motion, know that there is another Illinois senator, who, as it turns out, is a little more popular these days than the Assistant Minority Leader.

Read Senator Obama's response to the same request for support, and let's see whether the vitrol from this community is as potent as it was with Durbin.  Let me say, before you read his response below the fold, that while I am disappointed in Obama's response, I do believe it is honest.  Those with the "traitor" button on a hairtrigger should pause before responding.  With that said, follow me...

10 days ago I sent a letter to my senators, Obama and Durbin, seeking support for Feingold's censure resolution.  So far, Durbin is the only one to respond.  Here is what I got back...

Let's try some literary brain-storming, shall we?  Having wondered how I might post my first diary, and wanting to be somewhat original, I thought, perhaps, a study of politically oriented Haikus might do the trick.

For those of you who do not know, the "Haiku" is one of the most important forms of traditional Japanese poetry. Its modern incarnation is that of a 17-syllable verse, consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.

Remember--the idea is to condense your thoughts into 17 mealsy syllables.  That means you really need to strip the concept down to its most basic level.  This is an excellent exercise for those looking to get their message across to a vast audience (like, I don't know, perhaps any Democrat running for Congress or even, dare I say it, for President).

On the flip, I will start things off with a little ditty which I will call "Listen and Be Deceived", and which I dedicate to our current commander in chief.