Suspended, not over. Clinton met political expectations and offered support for Obama. We've now got around two months for the party to get it's collective head out of the sand and dump Obama before, like lemmings, they walk into the fall with a spectacular defeat. Obama is a loser and no amount of cult following or politically expedient affirmative action and guilt-erasure will undo this. I, as a Clinton supporter, will vote for McCain, even if Clinton accepts a VP spot on the ticket. Two months to fix this travesty...

As rough as Hillary's tactics may have been at times, does anyone doubt that Obama is right to say that he's a better candidate -- a far better one -- for having gone up against her for so long? His people definitely know this.

I've been saying that for months. You can see he's more polished, more prepared, stays 'on-message' more effectively, pivots more quickly when needed. Her attacks were Republican-lite, just the warm-up he needed for the GE.

Her speech wasnt perfect, but give Hillary some slack. The important thing is that she endorsed him and its on to the GE.
One a side note, MSNBC's Tamrin Hall is hot.

Politically expedient affirmative action?

By that logic, shouldn't we have rejected Hillary too, because of her lady parts?

As rough as Hillary's tactics may have been at times, does anyone doubt that Obama is right to say that he's a better candidate -- a far better one -- for having gone up against her for so long? His people definitely know this.

OMG.

That's all I'll say, Greg.

OMG.

;-)

I think the best part of the entire speech was hearing the boos fade away as it went on. In the beginning I could hearing booing amid the applause when she began to praise Obama, but by the end of the speech all I could hear was begrudging but hearty support for Obama. Well done Ms. Clinton.

Taylor Marsh today:

Hillary is a better candidate today and all I can do is dream about tomorrow. I stand by her today, tomorrow, anywhere, any time, any year. Today and tomorrow that requires me to do everything I can to defeat John McCain, and make sure Barack Obama is elected president in November. That's exactly what I intend to do.

OBAMA's message sounded a little like Blah, Blah, Blah.

Power to the people, right on

Say we want a revolution
We better get on right away
Well you get on your feet
And on the street

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

Oh, when your man is working for nothing
You better give 'em what they really own
We got to put you down
When we come into town

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

I'm gonna ask you comrade and brother
How do you treat your own woman back home
She got to be herself
So she can give herself

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

Oh well, power to the people

Okay, I guess I will finally bury the hatchet I have against Clinton due to her acts played out in this race, now that its over. :(

But its funny watching the Republican pundits on TV damage controlling, lol. "Barack Obama is the most liberal senator in the party" hahaha

The Republicans are doomed.

It gets kinda sticky for Obama08 to offer their war chest (donated in good faith in some small part by people who aren't exactly Clinton fans)and it gets positively toxic for Clinton to make a bargaining chip of the matter.

That won't be happening because it wouldn't be legal.

All Obama can do now is fund raise for her specifically, like he iis doing on his site, and have his big donors make big contributions to her campaign, which they will.

Dunno about Hillary's to-the-end campaign having toughened up Obama for the GE.  Maybe.

The biggest benefit I see from her campaign is the excitement she brought to all the primary and caucus states.  Read: huge increase in Democratic voter registration and turn-out.  That'll pay off big in November.

To do that, she had to put denial in her pocket and play out the string with a straight face.

I'm quite OK with her taking time to let her supporters down slowly.  No problem with her not conceding on Tuesday night.  What's a few days when there's so much time left 'til the Big One?

Her semi-feckless pandering and triangulating were a disappointment to me.  Glad to see it didn't work.  I kinda wonder if Mark Penn was really her first choice, or if Big Dog railroaded her in that direction?  I think we'll never know.

Great speech Hillary! 90% of it was about you of course, and you got a real sour look on your face when you had to spit out anything good about Obama, but you made it through it somehow without cracking up. Let's hope all your supporters will follow you in supporting the Obama campaign, as you asked them to. Now, let's get after McCain, whom you somehow forgot to ever mention in your speech.

I'd like to throw out there that any Clinton supporter who is wavering on Obama should really go check him out in person.

I had my doubts about his rallies being a big "Kumbaya" festival or being impersonal or a cult of personality or being a bit "American Idol".

My thoughts were changed being at the Xcel Center on Tuesday night.

Amazing how so many different people were brought together (ethnicities, ages, classes, backgrounds, man and woman). Clinton and Obama supporters were there and we all stood together. It really was very unifying and genuinely moving.

And "no" it was not a cult of personality there that night. Rather it was people who wanted to reject Bush and his policies, who believed in an America where we are all in it together, and who have hope that we can change Washington for the better. People that want to improve their position and ensure a prosperous future for them and theirs. We were people that wanted to be heard, not fall in line behind a personality or a speech.

I would recommend going to a rally or meeting. I think you will find the supporters warm and receptive and the candidate very well spoken and intelligent.

I think anyone who had doubts that night about Obama, had them summarily vanquished. I think, with an open mind, the same could happen to you.

Greg: "As rough as Hillary's tactics may have been at times, does anyone doubt that Obama is right to say that he's a better candidate -- a far better one -- for having gone up against her for so long? His people definitely know this."

The end justifies the means? I don't think so.

Her tactics since February failed to sink his candidacy, which is what she'd intended they do. One consequence -- not result, but consequence -- is that he became a better candidate. So what? He's a thinking, growing, evolving human being -- he would have become a better candidate even if he'd been running against a ground hog. Which of the two, Clinton or the ground hog, would have better contributed to making him a better candidate?

Imagine how much better a candidate he might be now if she'd run a remarkably ethical and honest campaign. If she'd done that, she might even have won. And if she had, wouldn't she have become a far, far, far better candidate than she turned out to be?

What if their competition had become one of outdoing each other in reaching for a higher level of politics? Whoever would have won would have won fair and square, on the high ground. We wouldn't all feel somewhat dirtied. We wouldn't have any polarisation; quite the opposite. We'd all be celebrating having broken the ceiling of dishonest, underhanded, degraded and disgusting politics.

We would all, every single one of us, be better people, and far better off, if she'd merely conceded months ago.

So, no, don't tell me he, or anyone else, is better for having endured an immoral political war that should never have been authorised or fought in the first place.

It's clear that Obama benefited from the long campaign, even though it was pure agony for his followers. And I won't suggest we pretend Hillary did it out of altruism. But better he go through the fires early and come out wiser and stronger to deal with the fires undoubtedly coming later.

Even though he and his campaign handled most of it expertly they learned a lot frmo her kitchen sink attacks. He's really battle-tested. He's more ready to face the Repubs now than he was a few months back.

Ahhh, the clintons clearly made obama a better candidate. They were slimy and obnoxious and were playing the republican playbook, but he is clearly a better candidate. He has been totally under fire. I can't stand the clintons, but in a weird sort of way they probably did obama and the dems a huge favor. Talk about tested and vetted. The republicans will copy the same playbook, they already are, and I would surmise that the same result will occur in november, but it won't be as close. On to the general, mcbush doesn't have a chance.

DUST OFF AND NUKE THE SITE FROM ORBIT

You are absolutely pathetic. The mere fact that you would vote for a republican, a republican who stands for methods Hillay Clinton would object fully, unmasks your spite. What Obama stands for closely parallels what Hillary stands for, and yet you choose to wrathfully vote for McCain and his outdated trickle-down policies. God you are a sore loser. You're part of the ignorantly educated minutia wandering around. You don't even realize how you've just compromised your beliefs. Sad person.

Really good post.

The Great and Growing Divide

Many of us watched today as Hillary Clinton said something that physically hurt to hear. She asked us to support Barack Obama. Loyal Democrat that she is, and true to her word, Hillary did the unimaginable. She asked the rest of us to support someone that many of us actually loathe. And that is putting it mildly.

But Hillary did something else today that is already having ramifications throughout the country. Hillary supporters are taking sides. And there are basically two camps. One camp that is sticking with the party and one camp that isn’t
Reforming the party from within is wishful thinking. The only way a party reforms is by humiliating defeat, running off the rails, or egregious abuse in the opposition party.
If BO is elected, they will be in charge of the party…in fact are in charge of the party as we speak. Try to go talk to them about reform. Go talk to them about counting every vote…about changing the caucus system to transparent primaries. Tell them how you feel about it. I think we all know what the attitude will be.
For me…my only recourse is to withhold my support from the current party leadership and the BO party leadership. It’s a drop in the bucket but I don’t feel like I will be complicit in Republican style tactics…even if they worked.

Ronmaven echoed the sentiment and clarified it:
The defeat of Obama would be the best kick in the pants for the DNC we could possibly deliver. You want to CHANGE the party? Vote for McCain. You want the party to only get worse? Vote for O.
To some, NOT supporting Obama is the moral thing to do.

Ccwarrior perhaps says it best:
easy decision for me I will sellout the party that SOLD me out. and I can live with that. I would never dis-respect my daughters, and vote for Obama after the treatment they witnessed from him doing this election …NEVER

But I have saved the best for last. Before I put it out there I want to make one thing very clear. I have nothing but the deepest respect for linfar. She has been a staunch Hillary supporter and she is such an excellent writer. I just happen to totally disagree with her about Obama and unfortunately may have to write things in the future that criticize her positions. It isn’t something I look forward to.

But having said that I think that unfortunately linfar grabbed a mug full of the Cult-Aide today because low and behold, she quotes from none other than the Prince of Darkness himself (Jonathan Singer) to make her point.

from mydd
Singer: Can you speak to the online supporters, the people online who are so strong for Hillary, who don’t want to see her leave, as a strong

Hillary supporter yourself?
Sen. Chuck Schumer: As a strong Hillary support I say, look, I was for Hillary all the way. I was sort of the first Senator to endorse her and I guess I’ll be the last off the bandwagon, which I guess will be tomorrow. But, having said that, I would say to all of the people online, there’s too much at stake to sit this out, to be angry, to be bitter. There is too much at stake. A Supreme Court with more Alitos and Roberts. A continuation of the war in Iraq.

A failure to have a healthcare policy that helps people. A failure to have an energy policy that frees us from foreign oil. All these are such huge things that we have to do what Hillary said there, which is overcome, not look back, even though there are lot’s of disappointments, but look forward.

I expected these bugaboos coming from Schumer. But a little reality never hurt anyone. Except Cultists I’m told. We hear the same nonsense you would expect from otherwise seemingly reasonable people. The trouble is that they think they will be able to bamboozle and scare us with their line of bullshit.

Everything Schumer mentions is something that the Congress controls, not the President. Supreme Court… confirmed by the Senate. Iraq War funding…. controlled by Congress. Health Care policy…. written by Congress. Energy policy… written by Congress.

SO WAKE UP! And stop letting these people get away with lying to you.

The reason Bush has got away with so much and has done as much damage as he has these past 7 years is because of a weak, feckless and complicit Congress. A Congress that has allowed him to do everything he has done. Because a strong Congress acting in the best interests of the American people would never have allowed Bush to do many of the things they are so fond of complaining about.

Where were the Articles of Impeachment? The Speaker of the House said that they would never be introduced.

Why has the Congress continued to fund the war? The Senate Majority leader doesn’t know how to throw a knock out punch.

Why are Americans still being spied upon? WHY?!?
In fact, the Supreme Court that Schumer and others are warning us about has done more to stop Bush than all of the Democrats in Congress combined. So enough of these silly myths. I half expect Obama to come out next and state: “You are either for us or against us.” Wanna guess what my answer will be?

These spats. This falling apart is expected. And it will likely become more vicious and personal as the days wear on. I fully understand those that are toeing the party line. I used to be one of them. Until this year. Until the Democratic party proved to me that it didn’t really stand for anything any more.

if i so chose to.