As with yesterday's diary, I will keep my remarks brief and will likely not be sticking around for back and forth. I know many will be disappointed if that is the case, and I apologize in advance for not committing to giving you all numerous opportunities to troll rate me unwarrantedly.

That is what professional debate moderation looks like.

I have never in my life had more respect for Charles Gibson than I do tonight.

Strike/Boycott's over, or at least my part of it is.

I am not going to be posting here much, however, until the primaries are over. I respect the spirit of the boycott and will honor those who are still fully engaged in it by only posting here sporadically. But when I think there's a point to get across, I will post here. At some point, you have to engage your opponents on their own turf if you hope to get your message across.

What brings me here tonight is "BitterGate."

I'm on boycott here (as Kos correctly referred to it as), so I'm going to keep this short. I think everyone knows that I was going to respond to what happened, that's why I'm writing this now, and I'll be on boycott again.

[Update: Wright has stepped down from his post on Obama's campaign. It's too little, too late. Obama has known the pastor for 20 years and that he named him at all to his team strikes at the very core of his whole 'judgment' argument. The reversing of the decision by Team Obama to keep Wright on made earlier in the day only reinforces their weakness and their non-understanding of the seriousness of the words of Rev. Wright.]

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(This diary is cross-posted at MyDD)

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There's no escaping this one.

No blame to be placed on his Democratic rival, no discussions among Anderson Cooper, Gloria Borger and other 360 guests about the triviality of the subject matter which is going to make things go away.

And thus, the chickens have come home to roost for the Illinois Senator. Some people may be able to be hookwinked and bamboozled about what someone did or did not say, but two things stand above all others in our American culture:

Money and video.

(This diary is cross-posted at MyDD)

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We are close to entering the 'endgame' of this primary season. Or perhaps I should say the prelude to the endgame, since the real endgame will likely occur at the National Convention in Denver in August.

The final components of this 'middle' game are 3: Florida, Michigan, and to a lesser extent, Pennsylvania.

I wrote yesterday about my decision to not support Barack Obama in November should he be nominated. I will not support anyone who willingly disenfranchises millions of Democrats, particularly after what happened in 2000 in Florida. That is not acceptable to me, and never would be. And make no mistake: It is Obama's call. Yes, Obama's surrogates are the ones saying things like Obama will only accept a 50/50 delegate split in Michigan, but if Barack wanted it differently, he could say the word and Michigan would be 'healed,' so to speak.

But I only hear silence.

And so my choice is clear. Obama has cast his die, and thus forced me to roll my own.

(This diary is cross-posted at MyDD)
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I've been asked repeatedly: "Would you vote for Obama in the general election?"

Until this time, I have held back, not made a firm commitment one way or the other.

On the one hand, I have been beyond disgusted with his campaign's cynical, destructive use of the 'race card' to appeal to African-American voters, and to strong-arm superdelegates. Though the contemptible strategy started before, it really began to flower when Jesse Jackson, Jr. wondered to a national audience why Hillary Clinton hadn't cried about the victims of Hurricane Katrina after Team Obama's devastating loss in the New Hampshire primary. That was when the "South Carolina Memo" strategy really took flight.

Let's get right to the bogus Obama camp response:

Susan Rice, Mr Obama's foreign policy adviser, said: "I think if Senator Clinton is serious about putting an end to statements that have racial implications...then she ought to repudiate this comment."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/...

Unbelievably hypocritical from a campaign which, right in the aftermath of a loss which had people shouting "Bradley Effect!", not only tolerated the following remarks, but did NOTHING to repudiate them or to discipline their originator, who -- oh by the way -- is a national co-chairman of the Barack Obama for President campaign:

(Note: This diary is cross-posted at MyDD)
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A blog from Frank James that piggybacks off of another article by the AP's Charles Babington:

Baltimore Sun blog

From the blog:

Is Sen. Barack Obama's overwhelming support from black voters the kiss of death with many white ones, especially core Democratic, non-college graduates?

and

Maybe there's something in politics akin to the white flight that has long occurred in urban and suburban residential neighborhoods.

[UPDATE: Someone asked I add the picture below. Never let it be said I don't take requests! :)]

(This diary is cross-posted at MyDD)
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It is almost over.

Losing 3 out of 4 of the Super Tuesday II states, including two of the largest states in the nation. One of them a crucial swing state for Democrats' November hopes.

Your own adviser saying you aren't ready to take a 3 AM call.

A political fixer who helped raise you money and whom your house is linked with is facing down Patrick Fitzgerald -- the man who bagged Scooter Libby -- in court.

(Note: this diary is cross-posted at MyDD)
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After his getting drubbed in states where he at least doubled the spending of Hillary Clinton, it is becoming increasingly clear that Barack Obama cannot and will not win the nomination. The narrative which the pro-Obama media wants you to believe -- that this is a contest for pledged delegates -- is meaningless, as neither candidate appears able to secure the needed numbers via only pledged delegates.

UPDATE: MyDD took down this diary. For all of you who want to believe that MyDD is in the tank for Hillary, their action should cease such utterances.

Great stuff. Unfortunately, I did not take a screen shot of the humiliating-to-their-site 'warning letter' which was sent to me by MyDD. I do, however, have a copy of the letter I wrote in response and will share it will you all on another day.

Ha ha -- what a night, eh?

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(Note, this is a copy of an extended comment/diary which I have posted at Hillary is 44.org, Taylor Marsh's site and MyDD)

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We have reached the time when it is incumbent upon Barack Hussein Obama to drop out of the race for the good of the Party. There are several reasons why this is the case:

Note: This diary has been crossed-posted at MyDD, Taylor Marsh's site (comments of her latest piece about Jesse Jackson, Jr. titled "Jesse Jackson Jr. Threatens Colleagues as Pandemonium Breaks Out Over Lewis") and Hillaryis44.org (comments of their latest piece called "March to Victory").
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There has been a lot of apparent political pressure put on African-American superdelegates who have been backing Hillary Clinton.

The most notable of these is Civil Rights Movement icon John Lewis, a staunch Clinton supporter up until the past several days.

Note: This is cross-posted at MyDD
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Last night, after being challenged by another MyDD poster to provide evidence for my assertion that Obama removed his name from the Michigan ballot because he felt he could not compete against Clinton there, I came upon the following column over at Talk Left:

http://www.talkleft.com/...

Now, the Talk Left piece uses sourcing from the Iowa Independent, a collection of journalists and bloggers. The story seems legitimate, as far as I can tell. Here is the original piece:

http://iowaindependent.com/...

This is it; tonight is BHO's big night.

After tonight, there are only two more states whose demographics strongly favor BHO: Mississippi and North Carolina.

After tonight, there are only 4 more pure caucus states (with Texas having a caucus/primary hybrid model): Hawaii (20 delegates), Wyoming (12), Guam (4) and Puerto Rico (55 - in a contest which looks to soundly favor HRC).

UPDATE: MSNBC claims the two camps report the following superdelegate totals:

MSNBC: Latest eletion news: SD's

HRC: 263 (+20)
BHO: 175 (+19)

I am going to add these figures to my totals, even though it is quite likely either or both camps are inflating their numbers here.

If these figures are accurate, the good news for the Obama camp is that they are now getting SD's at the same rate as Clinton is, which is a decided shift from how the SD's who have committed so far have been trending (about 61% for HRC before these latest additions).
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{Hat tip to (for updated info): Elrod (Tennessee)}

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[Update: Please see the end of the diary for an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT update]
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Pusillanimous DNC wants to hand Obama the nomination

Unbelievable! The DNC thinks up new and creative ways to disenfranchise Florida voters, possibly in hopes of recreating 2000? What are these mental midgets thinking?!?!

((Note: I did not have the chance to make any responses to my diary yesterday which discussed potential rioting in Denver at this year's Democratic National Convention. So if you were hoping for a response from me, please check the diary now as I have had the opportunity to go back and add several replies. I want to thank everyone who rec'd the diary, and who also, obviously, read and saw the same disgusting remarks and images here at Daily Kos which necessitated my writing the diary in the first place. There is no place for violence or threat of aggressive, offensively-oriented physical intimidation towards our own leaders in any Democratic Party which I wish to be a part of, either now or in the future. Thank you. The current diary entry will proceed following the jump.))

Update: Cross-posted at MyDD
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...prepare to be met not only by legal authorities, but by non-violent Democratic Party members who are 1000% resolved that the Convention will take place without threat or duress to its convening members.

Many of us were around in 1984 when we were VERY pissed about how the superdelegates broke. We dealt with it, because that was the rule when the primary season commenced. And we bitched about it after that primary season ended.