A real live threat occurred today, one that threatens our safety and the world's, as Iran upped the anti in it's pissing contest with the WH by firing off a missile launch test. War could be moving closer with Iran, as their leaders figure even Bush couldn't be stupid enough to launch another war, so they think they can stand tall for their people without paying a price. Unfortunately, we know the scary truth, these guys still think they are winning. And what did our capitulating nominee do? The one who is merely tacking to the center? Surely, if his vote on FISA was simply caving in to not appear "weak on terrorism", he will go hawkish on Iran now that Iran has handed him an opportunity by acting in a very provocative manner. Right?

Yesterday the Obama campaign sent me an e-mail asking for a donation of 30$'s or more, for a limited edition T shirt with the Obama logo. As far as I know this is the first time the campaign has done this, so that's kinda neat. On the other hand though, the message was pretty serious... Monday at midnight is the end of the quarter, and how Obama does now after turning down public financing will be closely scrutinized. If his numbers are weak the chatter will grow about the divided Dems, and how he isn't getting Hillary's people etc.

More below.

Right now Keith is on a split screen, he is one one side and the Obama event is being shown on the other side. Interestingly, Keith and or Fineman's talking heads are taking up 1/3 of the screen...the O event is taking up 2/3rd's of the screen. Just cut to commercial, and Keith said before they cut away that the Gore endorsement "will be next". He then went on to talk about Luke Russert too though, so I am not sure which is coming up first.

At any rate, turn to MSNBC now, because they are going to run with the Gore endorsement. And let's try to blog it for those without cable.

Opps...looks like they are starting with the Russert piece...without the split screen. Hopefully Gore will be on soon... I guess he will not be on until 8:30.

Update [2008-6-16 21:12:50 by PLS]:: Jennifer Granholm is introducing Barack, who will then introduce Gore. She is on the split screen, and the crowd is pumped.

Update [2008-6-16 21:12:50 by PLS]:II: Gore and Obama come out together onto the stage.

Update [2008-6-16 21:12:50 by PLS]:III: Gore; "This election will effect the world".

Update [2008-6-16 21:12:50 by PLS]: IV: "Take it from me, elections matter!" Damn, this is a barn-burner. "After the last 8 years even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter!" Reference to the pet food debacle.

Well, I don't now how accurate this is as there were no sources listed, but the Guardian has a pretty good reputation. They point out that Obama continues to be conciliatory towards her, and interestingly enough in his speech in SD a few minutes ago Obama said he had just spoken to Hillary on the phone to congratulate her on her win in PR. Last time I think he had to leave a message for her, so if she took his call in person this time it may indicate that the acceptance stage in the grieving process has begun in earnest.

Quotes below....

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The next guy is Rod Parsley, covered here already I think. Richard Wolfe is on now, talking about Pastor Hagee. Rod Parsley is the guy who said that America was founded partly to destroy Islam. There is video of him doing so. More below...

Looks like the Clinton camp has finally begun to accept the truth due to the superdelegate haul Obama racked up yesterday, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The paper reports that the campaign is changing it's tactics as a result. Quotes below...

Oh my God!!!Yes, they have already called it based on exit polling alone. CNN states that this is big, because it is a bigger state with a lot more delegates. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOt.

This means it's a big win folks. When was the last time Hillary won a race this way? Was Arkansas called as soon as the polls closed?  

Ok guys, I didn't see any other diaries up for Obama's appearance on MTP yet so here goes. The show will begin in less than 10 minutes on the East Coast, so those of us who are early risers out here, and "unchurched" need to pitch in here for our fellow kossacks in later time zones and without cable.

Will Russert jump on the Wright bandwagon, or will he ask some questions that really matter? Has Obama turned a corner, or will the MSM continue it's efforts to take Obama down and elevate Hillary in his place?

And most importantly of all, how will our guy do?

Update [2008-5-4 10:1:52 by PLS]: Obama hits it out of the park! Timmeh stuck to Wright questions and other bullshit for the first 22 minutes before moving on to the gas tax pander, ethanol vs food etc. Obama handles all questions very well, and showed a great grasp of the real issues when Russert finally moved on.

After days of bad news perhaps things are looking up. Today sure started out bad, with all the cable shows babbling about Wright nonstop. But now the results from Guam look great and Obama is on track to pick up 3 more Supers next week according to Sweet;

Washington...When the Democratic party of Illinois meet next week to finish  filling out the delegate slate, Sen. Barack Obama will pick up 3 more Superdelegates, according to Steve Brown, a spokesman for the state party chair...

The three are Daley, Currie, and Stroger.

Earlier on Hardball Tweety talked to "folks on the ground" from Indiana and NC, one each, as it turns out. I am a little shady on the details, due to my habit of reading this blog while Hardball is on, but I think the guy from Indiana was a reporter from a major Indiana Paper.

What he told Chris down below.

Update [2008-5-2 20:32:10 by PLS]: Kind commenter's have set me straight. The guy from NC was the reporter. The guy from Indiana is Howey, of the Howey Politics Indiana; Daily briefings on Indiana politics blog.

http://www.howeypolitics.com/

Seriously, what does "Activist" mean anyway? Someone who is politically active instead of passive. And what's another word for a person who is active in the public sphere? Citizen. It's really that simple. Hillary doesn't want active citizens, the kind of citizens our founding fathers were relying on to preserve democracy, she wants the majority to remain "low information voters" who can be easily distracted and led around by the nose. She wants the system to continue that allowed George Bush to win because "There isn't a dimes worth of difference between Al Gore and George Bush", and because he would be more fun to drink a beer with.

Who is the elitest now, Hillary?

Interesting how these people always project their true natures onto the opposition, isn't it?

Thank god, a slight ray of light appears. Yes, Russert started off with the "awful" mistake Obama made by bringing up the wedge issues in a very in artful way... and the discussion pissed me off royally. Obama's only defender was Bob Shrum, of all people.

The LA Times has put out a blockbuster piece detailing the back story on Richardson endorsement, from the man himself, Bill Richardson. This is a must read, as Bill gives a blow by blow account of how he strayed. As with more and more folks, his shift after nearly endorsing Clinton was a combination of being won over by Obama... combined with a growing unease about the Hillary campaign. What really fascinated me though, was the fact that the more I read the more it reminded of a love triangle, with the Clinton's in the roll of the jilted spouse that Richardson left for Obama.

More plus quotes below.  

Ok, so the actual story was about the dismal superdelegate math, which has turned against Hillary too. Sure, she still leads by 32, but that ain't much of a cushion when 2 or 3 supers seem to be breaking his way per week. The latest is Margaret Campell, a Native American state legislator in Montana, according to the Times. Campell was the 69th superdelegate Obama has picked up since "super" Tuesday, while Clinton has lost a total of 2.

CW has always been that Richardson would be a good VP pick for Hillary, but not for Obama because we could not have two "minorities" on the ticket. I must confess I thought so myself, until I saw them together on the stage yesterday. Tweety actually brought this idea to mind when he commented about how proud he was to see them up there together, having such an impact  in America, and I had to admit that they did look great side by side. Just like the Clinton/Gore ticket, in which two "Southern new Democrats" ran together, a Richardson pick would fit perfectly with Obama's "unity" theme.  

How close? 2,591,401 views, only 8,599 shy of the mark. This thing is still taking off, after all, this is only Friday. Barack gave this speech on Tuesday. Perhaps it is slowing down a bit, as it had been viewed 1.6 million times in the first 24 hours I believe. That number has more than doubled though, as of 7:30 pm EST this Good Friday.

And as Rashomon diaried earlier, a new CBS/NYTimes poll found that 7 in 10 voters who had been exposed to Obama's speech, thought he did a good job talking about race and explaining his relationship with his pastor. That's a big 70% folks! Actually, coincidentally (perhaps) that's roughly the same percentage of voters that Barack won in his victorious race for the Senate.

http://www.dailykos.com/...

Keep pushing the video guys, e-mail it to your friends, or harass your fellow employees like I did. The good news is that our guy is going to prevail here. There is plenty of time for Obama's views on this to filter down to the "low information voters".  

The State Department is implicated. Someone in the Bush Administration has rummaged through his file. Two contract employees supposedly are being implicated by a Spokesman for the State Department. Apparently you are denied access unless you have a "need to know". This is on Keith currently, and Howard Fineman says "This is highly significant", and it "overshadows the other stuff we have been talking about the last few days". The breach occurred in January, just when Obama was on the rise. The two employees have been fired, and there is a investigation going on.

Say goodbye to Wright, this will shift the debate.

Olbermann has this as the 4th story I think. Story up now is about Clinton's embrace of McCain, and her belittling of Obama. This is going to be a great show folks.

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Cheesy I know, but I wanted everyone to see this before it was too late.