I'm surprised at some of the reactions to the fake scandal erupting around Wesley Clark's words.  I welcome this conversation because it shines a light on a hidden truth that the McCain campaign didn't really want discussed.  Our job is to get out there and discuss.

How can Hillary Clinton drop out now and endorse Obama?  After the way she has campaigned what is that going to look like?  Won't the press open up with a barrage of her own words that seem to undermine Obama in comparison to John McCain?  Won't they try to portray her endorsement as hollow and leave room for her supporters to interpret it as disengenuous?

Yes they will.  And yes, she'll be able to handle it to our advantage if she wants.

May 20 and my daughter turns 4.  I'm the father of a four year old girl.  Alia.  It feels like I've had her forever.  She's a child with the kind of spooky wisdom that leaves people shaking their heads and smiling.  

She sings to her baby sister to stop her crying.  "Don't cwyyy," she sings softly to the tune of The Who's Baba O'Reily.  She once brought tears to the eye's of her friend's mother when she did this at their house to comfort her little friend.  And now she's four.  

It's May 20 and Barack Obama comes back to Iowa.  

It's understandable that supporters of Barack Obama are anxious to reach across and offer a hand in friendship to supporters of Hillary Clinton.  There is a desire to ask them to step up and support Obama as he is certainly the nominee.

Let me ask that y'all knock it the hell off.

Just about everyone here knows by now that NARAL, the pro-choice organization has endorsed Barack Obama for President.  You probably also know they are getting hammered by a lot of very angry supporters of Hillary Clinton.  

Here is what seems to be a not uncommon response posted on their blog.

I am outraged. This is absolutely ridiculous. I will never give money or support to NARAL again. Shame on you, NARAL, for selling out to the left wing of the Democratic Party.

Hillary Clinton has worked her entire life for women's rights and to keep abortion legal in America. This is insulting and a slap in a face to her career and to all women. Shame on you.

Apparently, supporting a pro-choice Democratic candidate for president isn't ok if that candidate is running against Hillary Clinton.  Even if that candidate has essentially wrapped up the nomination and is taking fire from the righties.  

Let's not get into it with the sad, angry people who are denouncing this wonderful and helpful organization.  But let's show the folks at NARAL that they will be supported in their support of the Democratic nominee.

A commonly repeated idea right now says that in order to bring unity and ensure success in the fall, supporters of Barack Obama have to start saying nice things about Hillary Clinton or at least refrain from criticizing her.   We have to extend an olive branch to her supporters.

I think that's a miguided sentiment.  

We'll stop criticizing her when she stops undermining the probable nominee and her supporters shouldn't expect anything else.  They shouldn't take everything said about Hillary Clinton personally anyway but that's up to them.  Either way, putting on some act of contrition towards them or a pose of respecting Hillary in the interest of bringing them on board with Obama is just a sad joke right now.  

I think most of them would agree with me.  

Two diaries on the rec list and the trolls already using the new Clinton talking points down below.

I'd like to welcome you all to  the John Hagee Day Planning Committee.

I think we need a special day to celebrate this very special man.  The Committee is open to suggestions of all kinds as to how we can bring about a successful and widely celebrated day to raise awareness of this passionate and opinionated spiritual leader.  

In terms of choosing a day for the celebration, there seems to be no reason not to interrupt the continuing celebration of Reverend Wright Awareness Month on account of the apparent extension of said month into the interminable future.

Before we open up the floor for everyone's ideas, follow me over the jump to hear what the Committee has so far.  

Let me just start out by saying that I'm a huge Hillary Clinton supporter, I have been longer than almost anyone here.  Some of you are going to try to call me a 'concern troll' or whatever but you can't because I'm telling you not to.  

But lately, I'm starting to really doubt that there is any chance for Hillary to get this nomination.  Over the jump for the brave at heart.  

Who knows whether the Concerned Supporters of Barack Obama writing diary after diary about what he should be doing differently are Obama supporters?  It's not worth figuring out who is trying to monkeywrench and who is just getting caught up in their own worries.  

The first thing I saw on the rec list here today was a diary talking about how Karl Rove's advice to Barack Obama actually made a good bit of sense.  Because we all know that Obama is in so much trouble and Uncle Karl sounds like he's actually kind of concerned.  

Jesusflippinchrist.  

The comments were filled with people scratching their heads over why it made so much sense.  

Heck, I use the word Rovian.  I thought he was a mean guy?  

Take a breath and jump over.  

I don't see this on the list, so it may be news to some.

Charlene Fernandez, Arizona Democratic Party First Vice Chairwoman endorsed Obama today.  

No kidding.  The title sounds like a joke right?  But taking a look at the NY Times this morning, I was greeted with this headline.  

Using New Math Clinton Contends She's Ahead

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Has she redefined the very laws of Nature to finally take a lead?  Sadly no.  Over the jump.

I understand that the New York Times printed a fairly scathing indictment of Hillary Clinton's campaign yesterday.  I think a few people might actually be influenced by that piece due to the nature of the argument they make.  What they were doing was, unfortunately, fairly unique.  They were speaking the truth about the campaign.

What has been far more common in the Times is that they push Hillary's talking points for her.  They have played a big role in shaping the narratives she needs to prolong her bid because the Times' stories are picked up on the wire and repeated all over the country.  

They do for Hillary what FOX does for GOP candidates.  But they've been doing it for one Democrat over another and civilized people aren't supposed to pull those tricks at all because they obscure truth on purpose.    

This morning's front-pager by Adam Nagourney should be laminated for the ages. http://www.nytimes.com/...

It is quintessential trollery.  It pushes the exact Concerns about Obama that the Clinton campaign needs to have on the front burner in order to have any argument at all.

This should just about do it folks.  The S.S. Hillary just finished scraping the iceberg and now it's just a moment of denial before her passengers will look over the side and realize that the water is getting a lot closer to their feet.  

Folks here are well aware of the Maverick bonus that McCain has been enjoying in the media.  There is a gross double-standard in terms of the hits being dished out against Obama and Clinton as compared to McCain.  

If a Democrat had made the Sunni or Shiite mistake McCain made, they would have been absolutely DEFINED by it.  As it was, it barely moved the needle in the pundit class.  This has been typical in the way the media has covered McCain for years and it is raising concerns that, if it continues, it could give him an advantage in the general election.

But it really is going to end.

Obama doesn't need to win Pennsylvania to still have a shot at the nomination, of course.  He'd probably still get it, ultimately, even if he lost PA by 35%.  

But in order to bring this nomination to any kind of sane and timely conclusion that would ensure our dominant position come November, he's got to deliver the knockout in Pennsylvania.  

In spite of the media narrative, Hillary Clinton's campaign is hanging by a thread.  The only rationale at this point, the only plausible 'path to victory' for her is through the superdelegates.  

If it could be shown that she is not going to be handed the nomination without winning the pledged delegate battle, Barack Obama would be the presumptive nominee.  And our collective fire could be directed at the GOP and John McCain.  

I don't believe we should be waiting for months to get on with this thing.  

I'm hearing from a lot of Obama supporters that they would support some sort of compromise on the Florida and Michigan primaries.  There are several versions thrown around that include the idea that it is OK to seat some of the delegates the way they were awarded by the vote.  

None of those ideas can happen if we are going to have a legitmate process.