I'm sorry folks, but I'm going back to being a lurker. At least for a little while.

The degree of nonsense and puritannicism I've seen on this site in the past two weeks has been frustrating and unbearably sad.

We are so close to something so real and important, and this is what we muster? Sheesh, most of you won't last a week when he's President.

It was one thing to call out Obama on FISA, which was certainly not what I wanted him to do, but I wasn't gonna judge him on it, considering that what one would do when President is different from what one would do when they are a senator, presumptive nominee or not.

But to not cut him slack on this Clark business is a bridge too far.

This site has become a repository for wingnuts who no longer draw conclusions on anything but what is directly in front of their nose. They are unable to see stratagems beyond their ideology, and they give their candidate, the best we've ever had, no slack.

What have we become?

Before you go on denouncing Obama, I would respectfully ask you to read this diary.

Most of you, and I mean the people who are "let down" by Obama's "rejection" of Wes Clark.

Let's play a game of "Who said this?"

"I think Senator Kerry served admirably and he ought to be proud of his record."

Is it

a) Max Cleland
b) John McCain
c) John Murtha
d) George W. Bush

If you chose a, good guess, but wrong.

B? Despite his interest in being John Kerry's VP, also wrong.

C? Maybe...

But if you chose D, you would be correct.

Brilliant! Lousy week but some good news:

Two more states have shifted to Barack Obama's column in the new CNN Electoral Map that charts the candidates’ strength leading up to the November election.

"Toss-up" states Minnesota and Wisconsin were re-designated to "Lean-Obama" Friday, giving the presumptive Democratic nominee another 20 electoral votes in CNN's current estimate. The Illinois senator now has 231 electoral votes — 39 shy of winning the presidency.

Of course, though...

This is only a CNN estimate and is likely to change many more times in the lead up to the election.

We've gotta fight! We cannot get complacent.

We cannot cut off our noses to spite our faces!

I love DailyKos like I love an old friend. Which is to say, I love it for both its good qualities and accept its limitations.

As a result, I still have to accept that many of us are emotional people (myself included) that often suffer from a lack of perspective. FISA comes to mind here.

I'm not going to get into what bothers me about the response to Obama's decision, nor will I share my feelings about it either, because it's done. People on all sides have a reason to be upset and disappointed, but it is, as economists put it, a sunk cost. We can't get it back.

Nothing more can be gained by rehashing it.

But what I do not want to lose is my grip on the larger picture. And the big news today is that we figured out what the Swiftboat of 2008 is going to be.

Let me say another way: We know what they are going to do.

Nancy Pelosi calls BS on Hillary's not so subtle I'm-a-victim strategy.

Thankfully, she waited until Hillary was out of the race. Otherwise this really would have pissed HRC's people off:

I’m a victim of sexism myself all the time, but I just think it goes with the territory, I don’t sit around to say, ‘but for that"...I think her candidacy was a just a bright, bright moment for us and she may run again.

First of all, this isn't a GBCW diary.

But today, I almost decided to leave for good.

I guess I didn't realize how many Chicken Little Asshats we have blogging here, people who are allegedly "serious" about getting Barack Obama elected.

Why don't you just join the Green Party? Or the Paultards? They'd probably be attracted to your tenuous grasp on reality.

He is AGAINST IMMUNITY. Read his statement again.

All of this fur is flying over NOTHING until it is all said and done.

Kossacks, I am sick and tired of this ridiculous emotionalism. It might make you feel good, but in your hearts, you know it helps no one.

And it certainly does not do justice to what Barack Obama said.

In the most crucial general election in modern history, Obama is our guy. For better or worse, he is. Have you seen anyone else out there who can do what he can do?

We won't find another one like him for a while, I promise you that.

But I can tell you who we won't find: someone who is perfect.

Someone who always does what we say. Someone who says "how high" when we ask them to jump.

I'm sorry folks, but this is bullshit. I haven't seen so much kneejerking in my life.

You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

I'm gonna ask you to put yourselves in Obama's shoes, ok?

So the leadership comes up with this "compromise." It's a total cave. What do you do?

You go with it completely? You lose everyone's respect.

You go against it completely? You are Mr. Law Enforcement, weak on terror, etc, in a fraction of a second.

You want to have control of the campaign narrative, right?

This is the first nail in the coffin:

John McCain ells the press on the Straight Talk Express to his Minneapolis hotel that he’ll abide by federal funding limits in the general election.
“We will take public financing.” Asked what his thinking was, he said, “Because we decided to take public financing.”

I suspect that sometime soon, Barack Obama will embark upon a larger media effort to talk about himself his issues, and why he's running for President. My question is, when and where will this campaign take place?

I think he is making the right moves now, letting McCain spend money on media while he is focusing on registering voters in all 50 states and setting up his organization. After all, forcing John McCain and the RNC to spend money on talking about issues like global warming (when he has little to gain by talking about it), he is forcing him to burn his very limited resources, resources that will be severely curtailed come Labor Day.

So my question is, when Barack goes on the air, where does he do it?

UPDATE: Halperin basically jacks my headline, word for word. Maybe he's a reader?

In a major development in a story sure to be used as a smear-by-association by the RNC against Obama, the defendant Tony Rezko defends Obama by flatly stating that he was totally uninvolved with Barack Obama or Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

However, it seems more likely that this is another case of manipulating prosecutors, a la Siegelman and others, to use the machinery of the state to screw GOP political opponents?

Could the DOJ have done this to smear Senator Obama?? Their track record is certainly suggestive...

Sounds good to me:

The former Clinton supporter/long-time confidante says on CNN’s "The Situation Room":

"I would ask Al Gore to serve as his vice president and energy czar...and send a signal to the world, the American people, the Congress, to everybody that America is getting serious about this horrendous problem that we face."

He later adds that he’s trying to be provocative, would also be "delighted" if Obama picks Clinton.

Ladies and Gents,

I think this is it.

From CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton is poised to deliver a message Tuesday "that she will do whatever it takes" to put a Democrat in the White House -- a message that Sen. Barack Obama insiders say indicates she would accept an offer to be Obama's running mate if asked.

"In her speech tomorrow night, she will convey the message that first and foremost she is committed to Democrats winning in November and will do whatever she's asked to do," said a close friend and adviser of the New York senator and former first lady, who speaks with her regularly and is privy to her deliberations.

"She will do whatever it takes to bring the party together to win and whatever is asked of her to make sure the Republicans are defeated."

...for a cold?

If he is this delicate, how the hell is he going to handle the stress of being president?

I just have to ask...

From  Ambinder

Time magazine reports that Ehud Olmert, the architect of Israel's major military incursion into Lebanon, wants to negotiate with Hamas.

In a major slap in the face to President Bush and John McCain, Olmert has stepped out and taken a bold risk for peace and security in the Middle East:

(U)nder instructions from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israel envoys have been carrying out discreet talks with the very "radicals and terrorists" that Bush was warning against in his speech: Syria, the Lebanese militia Hizballah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

NYT

Despite the fact that John McSame's campaign has tried to do a cosmetic "purge" of people who have been registered lobbyists at one point in time, the New York Times has courageously reported on the myriad connections between McCain, his closest advisors, and special interests.

Today is no exception. In an excellent article, Barry Meier details the many connections between Rick Davis, a man second only to Charlie Black and part-time President of the Reform Institute, John McCain's so-called reform think tank, and private equity firms with a stake in government business.

Evidently, you don't have to CURRENTLY be a registered lobbyist to be knee-deep in special interest muck:

Now Mr. Davis is overseeing new lobbyist-related guidelines that the campaign has issued in an effort to safeguard Mr. McCain’s reputation as an opponent of special interests. The plan, among other things, bars "registered" lobbyists, those who must file disclosure reports listing their clients, from working on the campaign.

Did anybody see this on Politico?

This appears to be the sort of crap we don't need from the Clintons or their ilk if they were at the top of the ticket:

Yesterday HRC Trumpetmaster Terry McAuliffe was spotted lunching at one of his favorite places -- The Palm, with about six young guys.

Before you swamp me with complaints, hear me out, OK?

I know that this probably won't be popular here at dKos, but I have an idea for a great way to emphasize unity in the days after Senator Clinton drops out of the race (which I believe is certain to occur before much of June is in the books).

My proposal is this: we, as a community, should create an ActBlue page for helping to retire Senator Clinton's debts.

I am aware that not many folks savor such a prospect, especially if their whole-hearted donation to Senator Obama is going to Hillary without their permission.

And that's exactly why Senator Obama would not do it that way. He knows better, so give him the benefit of the doubt.

In an outstanding response to John McCain's demagogic stupidity on the "Hamas endorses Obama" non-issue, Obama masterfully plants the seed of doubt regarding John McCain's competence to be president:

link

"This is offensive, and I think it's disappointing," Obama told Blitzer, when asked his thoughts about McCain’s comments that the terrorist organization Hamas wants Obama to be president. "Because John McCain always says ‘I am not going to run that kind of politics,’ and to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his.