GO BADGERS!!!

YES WE CAN!!!

At this point, it looks like another +10 delegates or so for Obama.

Clinton is coming out to "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton!!!111!!1!11!!!

As I think Einstein once said, "Das ist some lame-ass shit."

Hillary is giving her speech and she sounds tired...

hillary just said that the campaign isnt about her or her opponent, "it's about you." i'm pretty sure i've heard that line before.

The polls in Virginia were instructive. He is continuing to eat into her base. The next two weeks will be a slog. Time to turn off my computer and TV so I don't lose my mind.

Listening to Hillary plug her website yet again. Makes me think the $15MM they were bragging about was just fluff: she needs money.

Oooooh, the "dangerous world" argument.

I think Obama could call her out for plagiarizing Bush's "vote for me or die" motto.

Obama is coming on screen now....

Hillary's speech is full of fear-mongering about a dangerous world needing an experienced person. And she keeps saying "Ready to be Commander in Chief on Day One" over and over and over. She is sticking to her traditional talking points. Not sure that is wise.

Cue Mark Penn on "why Wisconsin doesn't matter" in three ... two ... one ...

Obama is tough enough to bump Hillary off the tube.

I have to say while IOWA and SC were GREAT, THIS IS THE SWEETEST VICTORY THUS FAR!!!!!

THIS VICTORY SCREAMS- FUCK YOU

GObama!

Seriously, between this and the Tx polls and delegate allocation methodology, it's hard to see what the Clintons can do. I hope they are dignified and quit while they can (pretend to be) on high ground.

Whoo hoo!

And a serious "power move", starting his speech while Hillary was still talking. Effectively cutting her off (at least on MSNBC, and I'm sure all the other cable networks). Very smooth.

A little more momentum, and this campaign could achieve orbit.

-- ARG

I hope they are dignified and quit while they can (pretend to be) on high ground.

Yeah, me too. Really.

But I doubt it.

People - we Obama supporters are gleeful tonight, but we don't have to scream "F**k You" at the Hillary supporters. Show a little class.

We're winning, remember?

10 loses and she's never congratulated her opponent on the win. Class act, that broad is. This speech she's giving and behavior exemplifies her character to me, and makes me worry that she will not concede, even if Obama wins the convention. She's a very vicious person. Cruel even.

Obama now. Hillary never. Michelle later.

Make a donation folks:

https://donate.barackobama.com/promise

♪♪♪

Candiedyam, you are a voice of reason.

Many rivers to cross.

this is EXCELLENT NEWS FOR HILLARY!!!

This is pretty much his basic stump speech.

Do we have no Hawaii polling? It's a caucus and Obama was born there, so he's got a lot going in his favor. I've just never seen any numbers.

I agree that we Obama supporters should win with class.

But folks like Mark Penn make that very, very hard.

Anywhoo, a shout out to the folks in Wisconsin!

Thanks for doing your part.

I'm sorry for using the F word. But just the Clinton camp played games for a week- I had to get it out.

I'm sorry- and my F word was not directed to the candidate but the negative tactics all week. Anyway, on a night like this- Sorry is a word I can say.

I'm sorry for using the F word. But just the Clinton camp played games for a week- I had to get it out.

I'm sorry- and my F word was not directed to the candidate but the negative tactics all week. Anyway, on a night like this- Sorry is a word I can say.

Sweet victory tonight.

Particularly due to the fact that it is a repudiation of divisive political play. In addition it will severely dampen the media obsession with Obama's supposed plagiarism. Instead the media narrative will be writing Hillary's eulogy until March 4.

Sorry HRC supporters, we would have supported her had she won. But, now it is time to see the light and hop on the Obama train as we roll all over McCain!

Wisconsins just plagiarized the previous eight states.

I wonder if she'll beat Huckabee

Obama-Sebelius 2008: A dream ticket! For the first time in history, no white male running for the top two offices!

"And a serious "power move", starting his speech while Hillary was still talking. Effectively cutting her off (at least on MSNBC, and I'm sure all the other cable networks). Very smooth."

I don't know if this was actually a "power move" it seems as though it just worked out that way.

But this seems like the kind of "petty" "4th grade" stuff that people attribute to Hillary.
Oh and "she does it too, so there" isn't impressive.

He WON. Good for him!

From the NYTimes on line, at 10:23 --
"Obama Extends Streak With Ninth Victory Over Clinton
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM and MICHAEL COOPER 19 minutes ago
Barack Obama won by a comfortable margin in Wisconsin, putting new pressure on his opponent, while John McCain closed in on the G.O.P. nomination."

Networks turning away from Hillary to Obama- I hope will prove to be a symbolic moments in this race. As of now, I'm just glad Hillary did'nt get any free TV time.

I am so proud of my fellow Wisconsinites!

Does anyone know when the last time was that two sitting US Senators competed for the Presidency? Could it be as far back as the 19th Century?

From the NYTimes on line, at 10:34 --
"Obama Extends Streak With Ninth Victory Over Clinton
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM and MICHAEL COOPER 10 minutes ago

Mr. Obama’s victory was helped in part by support from groups that have traditionally tilted toward Mrs. Clinton, including female and middle-aged voters. Mr. Obama received more than half of the votes cast by white residents and he split the female vote with Mrs. Clinton, according to exit polls conducted by Edison/Mitofsky for the National Election Pool.

. . .

Almost two-thirds said Mr. Obama would be more likely to unite the country and about 55 percent considered him more likely to improve foreign relations. Democratic voters were evenly divided on whether Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama was most qualified to be commander-in-chief, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.

The AP is characterizing Hillary as "fading"?

Ouch.

I can just imagine a McCain - Obama debate. It's going to be Kennedy - Nixon all over again.

Obama's up 15, and if there are still plenty of Dane county votes out there, he's going to pad that number.

Talking about Stump speech- a couple of things:

1. I had a feeling he was making an effort to be less attractive (or less glossy) in his speech tonight.

2. Almost networks focus on him-full length- for these victory speeches. It's time for him to make a Change in his stump.

I wonder if Clinton camp will continue beat up plagiarism?

I think the early voting in Texas is going to greatly favor Obama.

Thanks. I knew it was a beauty contest, I just didn't know if even the most idle speculation had Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama prevailing.

Obviously a win for Obama wouldn't mean much; but after this evening I could imagine a Clinton win provoking a hastily-arranged repeat of the Florida 'victory' rally.

Hillary again refuses to concede or publicly thank her Wisconsin constituents who braved freezing temperatures to vote for her ungrateful and ungracious A$$...

David Frum on Larry King Live suggesting that Obama is ungrateful to all vets and John McCain's military service - did I miss something - Obama is always sticking up for the poor treatment of returning vets, and stating his respect for McCain's war hero status... David Frum is a pompous mouthpiece that creates more bad blood in desperation because he knows his party is on a sinking ship.

THE HAWAII RESULTS SHOW NOW OBAMA 77% TO 23% FOR THE IRON B_____ AND AS I SAID IN MY PREVIOUS POST.
SHA NA NA SAY HEY HEY GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDANCE TOO!!!

K, folks. (clears throat)

I mentioned in another thread that I'm religious. So I'm going to pray a little, in a little bit. I posted a variant of this comment here. I am going to cross-post to a few threads, and beg forgiveness in advance, because I have the arrogance to believe that some of this should be said more than once.

So I've posted a lot of criticism of the HRC campaign, and of HRC's personal record, her choices for campaign staff (particularly Penn, who is a corporate, unionbusting toad), etc. But I respect her years of service. I will respect her even more if she decides to stand aside, as difficult as it would be for her and for the millions who support her, in the name of a unified party to take the White House in November. I can forgive the schadenfreude of the BHO supporters in this thread, and feel a bit of it myself. But I think it's time to dial it down and look both ahead and behind. (I also wish to point out that I was not originally an Obama supporter: I favored Kucinich for his positions and passion; Edwards for his positions and apparent electability, according to national polls; Richardson for his resume and temperament; Dodd for his stands for the Constitution.)

I'm coming up on 45 years old. For most of my adult and even teenage life, I've been railing against the direction this country has gone in, and grown increasingly horrified, year after year. Unfortunately, that includes the Clinton 42 years (NAFTA, telecom deregulation, WTO, Clipper Chip, Carnivore, Option 9, and more). I was just barely too young to vote for Carter in 1980. My first national election was the just oh-so-wonderful 1984 contest that brought Four More Years of policies that turned the US from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation. So I came of political age under Reagan and Bush 41. It's been a damn long, dry, hard, tough 28 years. I can pray, and hope, that the long -- very long -- national nightmare may be coming to an end. And no, I'm not going to credit that. We all know very well where it came from. At least, those of us who have studied history do, as well as those of us who are old enough for it not to have been "history." I'm right smack in the middle -- barely politically conscious when those words were uttered. And I hope we can make those words real again: make the Constitution work again, make our great Republic a government of laws and not of men (OR women), and make this a nation where the people, once again, exercise power.

ARG in Chicago posted upthread a prediction of a landslide. I'm hoping for more. With luck, and perseverance, and vigilance, and work, it could be a tsunami. But only if everyone gets out there. Call. Donate. Canvass. Knock on doors. Talk to people. Get involved in a campaign. For me, it was McNerney in '06 (CA-11). It's incredibly sweet to pick up and rent a motel room in a city 70 miles away (Stockton, for me) for a few days, take charge of a precinct, talk to the voters, drag them to the polls (I dragged one couple out at 7:45 PM, they weren't going to vote, but I got them there) -- and then go to the victory party, watch the returns, watch them be within a few percentage points, and then suddenly, watch the % of precincts reporting go from about 40 to about 60%, and your candidate's margin jump by about 10 points, and have the campaign organizer hold up a sign that read "THAT WAS SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY!!" and to know that was YOUR county, that YOU worked in, and that 30 of those votes were YOURS. Do it. Get your ass out there, wherever "there" is for you.

I'd worked a lot of campaigns, and couldn't recall being on a winning one. When I finally got home that morning, I found an email -- from three days before, before the election, linking to this video. I watched it over and over and wept.

I also watched my hopes and optimism get dashed by Pelosi and Reid and Rockefeller and Hoyer and Emanuel and, of course, the Republicans that Pelosi/Reid et al have so successfully enabled over the last year-plus. But that's a different post.

But that's just preamble. Long-winded, and I apologize. Back in the Clinton 42 years, I believed that Hillary would have made a better President than Bill. And despite my strong misgivings about her record, corporate connections, etc., I still respect her. In fact, I'm going to post the following in a whole bunch of threads: I think HRC would make one hell of a fine Supreme Court justice. I do hope that all of the corporate toadying the Clintons have done has been for the sake of political expediency. Once on the Court she could drop all that and fight for what she truly believes in. Just imagine what good she could do for the country with a lifetime Supreme Court appointment. So my first, completely unsolicited, piece of advice for (as I pray will be) President Obama is: after you are sworn in, your first Supreme nomination to a filibuster-proof Senate after Stevens retires should be HRC. (Hopefully Stevens will retire before Ginsburg, although she is fighting cancer and probably needs to retire for the sake of her health.) Then, after Ginsburg retires, we can get, I'd hope, a second woman on the Court, perhaps a bit more progressive than HRC. I can think of a few of my own law professors, and that's just scratching the surface. Maybe they can make life so miserable for Thomas (who already is on record as, um, disliking his job) that he'll retire soon to make big bucks somewhere. Good riddance and may he live out his days in unearned luxury. That would give Obama his third nominee. A Kennedy retirement would make a fourth. Do everything right, and we could even get the Supreme Court back.

One can hope. One can pray. And I'm both hoping and praying that I'm not counting any unhatched chickens. There's a lot between here and November, and even more between here and 1/29/2009. But one can hope, one must pray, and one must work. HRC is right that speeches aren't enough. She is wrong to insinuate that BHO and his supporters don't get that, but that's just campaigning. I hope. I do know that Obama and many of his supporters do get it. The man's a community organizer, after all. And his campaign shows it, through and through.

Adelante. Vigilance. WORK. And -- dare I say it -- pace César Chávez, a great man and a great organizer, and with the best to Barack Obama, who is wearing those words well, and doesn't need to footnote them -- sí, se puede. Yes, WE CAN.

And, for the sake of our families, our country, our planet -- we must.

From the Hawaii Caucus:

At my ward, which had under 40 people in 2000 and 2004, there were at
least 2000 who managed to get in the room
(no doubt violating all fire regs) and lots more outside, in spite of
no parking for at least mile. (I looked). The situation was similar
all over
Oahu according to friends, basically complete chaos. No organization
could have been prepared for it, simply swamped
everyone. But everyone treated everyone with aloha, no complaints, in
spite of extremely long lines to get in if you needed to
register. Typically this ward would be dominated by elderly
Japanese-Americans. Tonight it was much younger and more diverse -
Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans, Filipino-Americans, Native
Hawaiians, Locals, even a few European-Americans and
African-Americans. They ended up ripping up what paper they had and
marking it with the date, and having people write their choice in.
I did see two Hillary stickers, but my guess is a 80-20 win for Obama.
And not because he is a native son. Didn't get out till 10pm,
so don't expect counted results in for few days. But for sure an Obama
landslide.

On the Clinton speech... She didn't concede Wisconsin, didn't congratulate Obama, didn't even mention it. Didn't say anything like, "We lost one, but we'll keep on fighting." It was like she didn't think it happened.

This is the exact same mode of operations that we've seen from Bush in the past eight years: Don't acknowledge reality. I hate to see a Democrat acting as if people won't know it happened if she just ignores it.

gharlane -- Thank you for all of your good words. I see why you wept on watching the video to which you linked.

As to David Frum -- I first learned of him when he was interviewed on NPR shortly after Bush's first inauguration, in Jan. 2001. Frum was asked whether there was reason to be concerned at Bush's acknowledged ignorance of history. I wish I had Frum's exact words in reponse (I am of the school that believes that words are very important); I don't, but what follows is very close. Frum replied that "history" was just an arcane concern (those were not his words -- they do mean what his words meant) of intellectuals. "Leaders don't have to know about history -- about what has happened. Leaders have to have a vision of what CAN happen". Those are pretty close to Frum's exact words. My thought at the time (cleaned up here for family viewing) was that surely knowing what HAD happened in the past might help in forming an ACCURATE "vision" of what COULD happen in the future. To see a reminder of the utility of basing "vision" on a knowledge of history, look at Frum's Jan. 26, 2003 words as he spoke on CNN of Bush's then forthcoming State of the Union address: ". . . the president's laid out the case magnificently for the case to do something big about the Middle East. Now the question is what will that something big be? . . . think he's going to make a very clear and powerful case about what he is going to do next...You know one of the things people often complain about this White House is it doesn't leak that much and that's true. But it doesn't need to leak because the president, in his speeches, is very explicit about what he's going to do. If you want to understand the mind of this president, listen to his speeches. It's all there. He's told the world he is not going to allow Iraq, Iran and other terrorist organizations to threaten the peace of the world with these deadly weapons. They're threatening the peace of the world with these deadly weapons, and he's going to stop it. That's what he's told us." See, http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0301/26/sm.18.html
That is indeed what he told us. Go in peace, gharlane, to love and serve the Lord.