Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had a unification meeting in a place called Unity, New Hampshire where they pretended to bury the hatchet in order to bring the party together in a big effort to beat John McCain in November. The two have not been together since about a month ago when Clinton suspended her campaign and vowed to help Obama win. I did not believe her then and I do not believe her now.

The Clintons are sore losers and the idea that an inexperienced, first term Senator with nothing more than the gift of gab could beat them is grating on their nerves. Bill Clinton has taken to other tasks rather than be involved in anything where he has to discuss the recent primary because he usually says things that sound more like sour grapes than thoughtful analysis. He went to a party for Nelson Mandella where he barely acknowledged the existence of Oprah Winfrey, a person with whom he once had a good friendship. She backed Obama and he did not like that. Bill might say he will support Obama but he will not work too hard to do it.

A large number of Clinton supporters are saying they will not back Obama and though I am sure that number will decrease by the time election day rolls around, there will still be a number of them who will stay home or will vote for McCain. Obama needs the Hillary supporters if he is to stand a chance of winning so he gains from the uncomfortable relationship with the Clintons.

Hillary Clinton has about 20 million dollars in campaign debt that she needs retired (and God knows she does not want to spend her own money to do it) so she needs the Obama campaign and its money to help settle the bills. She will play along with this uncomfortable pairing in order to get her bills paid. She will even give the appearance of being a good little storm trooper and going along with the Obama nomination but she (or more likely her surrogates) will be working in the background to help get Obama defeated. Hillary would love to see Obama lose (and the worse he loses the better) so she could say “I told you so” to the DNC and run in 2012.

But Hillary needs to be careful. She needs to give the appearance that she is supporting Obama and that she wants to defeat McCain. Any member of the Democratic plantation who utters anything that goes against the grain will be met harshly. Ask Debra Bartoshevich, a national delegate who supported Clinton but has not consumed the Obama Kool Aid. She stated that she would vote for McCain in November and now she is no longer a delegate. Hillary cannot cross the gods at the DNC (more than she has by dragging out the primary) and she certainly cannot give he appearance of screwing over Obama until her debt is paid and the convention is over, but her people can work behind the scenes.

I have no doubt in my military mind that the Clintons want Obama to lose and to lose badly. I also have no doubt that Obama wants the Clintons to just keep quiet and not help “too much.” In any event the Unity meeting was nothing more than a facade to bring all the other little Dems into line and get them to vote for Obama. They might talk like friends but there are still a lot of bitter feelings (more so on the Clinton side) and there will always be discomfort when they are together.

Keep this in mind little Democrats, the Clintons do not want Obama to win but they do not want to appear as if they are destroying the party. They will work in the background to squash Obama and his presidential aspirations.

The only thing that had anything to do with Unity during the meeting is the name of the town where they met.

My Way

The New Hampshire Primary is now in the books and while the votes are still being counted the major networks have called this one for Hillary Clinton. It would appear as if all the pundits were wrong on this one as they (I included) were predicting Clinton would lose this race by 10 points. There were two things involved here and they probably combined to change things a bit. Remember when Bill Clinton lost this race and went on to be the “comeback kid”? Well he remembers it too and he has mentioned it since Iowa.

It is likely that the polls in NH were exaggerated to show Obama with a huge lead so that if she came close or won she could be dubbed the second comeback kid. The people and the media of NH have always been Clinton friendly so it is not beyond reason that some things were exaggerated to help her out.

I think what was involved more than anything is that John McCain energized the Independent voters so much that he siphoned them away from Obama. In NH the Independents are allowed to in which ever primary they wish but only one). I believe that early polling showed Obama ahead and much of it was the Independents who were committed to voting for him. Then Hillary went on the attack over the weekend when she did Hillary redux and had her millionth make over. Her attacks made people wary of Obama but they also realized that there was no way in hell they could vote for Hilary so they migrated to John McCain who has always had great support in the state.

It is likely that some combination of these two events took place. However, while the Clintons probably played with the polls and the news to some small degree, it is much more likely that the voters in NH were in favor of Obama until Hillary counter punched and then they became worried about him and abandoned him for McCain.

If this is the case it shows that the Independent voters are afraid of Obama and will not vote for Clinton. This should make little difference in the upcoming primaries because I don’t think there are other states that allows Independents to vote for members of other parties. In this respect, Hilary and Obama will be fighting it out head to head while staying strictly in their party. They also cannot discount John Edwards. As long as he stays in he will split someone’s votes (he might have done a little of that tonight).

Where this issue of going for McCain hurts Democrats is in the general election where people can vote for any party they want. Conservatives will come out in droves to vote against Hillary. We have seen tonight the possibility that Independents will vote Republican rather than cote for the Democrats.

This could spell disaster for them in the general election. However, I am looking forward to Hillary getting knocked out of the primaries so we do not have to deal with her in the general election.

She is Satan.

Fresh off her third place finish in the Iowa caucus, Hillary Clinton is trying to reinvent herself once again. She enjoyed a small lead in New Hampshire but that seems to have eroded according to the latest Rasmussen poll. B. Hussein Obama now leads Hillary Clinton by ten points with the primary only three days away. A lot will ride on tonight’s debate and I expect Hillary to go very negative. She will be attacking Obama all night long.

The attacks have already begun as the Clinton campaign sent out a mailer criticizing Obama on his abortion rights record. Hillary’s mailer claims that Obama did not take any stance on abortion issues where as she has been the champion of women’s right to choose. She has been trying to reinvent herself starting with claims of being the most experienced candidate (which must have been news to Dodd and Biden who have now bowed out) and then she went to the Obama play book and became the candidate of change. She has been talking about change but is surrounded by relics from her husband’s administration and those who helped him get elected. Not that she shouldn’t use talent she thinks is the best but it is hard to claim you are for change when your campaign rhetoric keeps returning to the days of yesteryear. Going back to the Clinton administration is not the best way to present a forward looking campaign.

Rush Limbaugh had an interesting article in his most recent newsletter where he took a bunch of Hillary’s (among others) quotes and showed how she will force people into health coverage, force pharmaceutical companies to lower prices and force oil companies to spend their money of R&D for non fossil fuels. Rush points out that this is the opposite of freedom and that the government should not be making these mandates. Hillary sounds like a Nazi. Interestingly, this silhouette photo (I think it is from AP) makes it look like Hillary is giving a Nazi salute.

Hillary is losing New Hampshire though things might change after the debate but the question is, is she toast? She lost Iowa, and she is behind in New Hampshire. Obama has been running an even campaign and he appears to be picking up momentum. A win in New Hampshire might be the death of Hillary though she, like Giuliani, might be looking to Florida to make a run. The candidate from each party who wins Florida will likely win the nomination. Super Tuesday is right after that and none of them have the money or resources to run ads in all the states participating in that event and it is physically impossible for them to be in all of the states at once. Hillary will probably send Bill to one state with a huge number of delegates while she campaigns in another but she must win Florida in order to compete. She also has to convince voters that Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton is a good thing…

This is going to be fun. She is melting down and I would love to see her explode. A few more losses might just do that.

Of course, she might turn things around and win. Then the real fun will begin.

As many people know, Ron Paul was excluded from the Fox News Forum and the ABC debate in New Hampshire. Those events are to take place this weekend and Paul was excluded from Fox who decided to only take candidates who had polled in double digits. ABC has criteria for inclusion. In order to be in the debate a candidate has to meet one of these:

• place first through fourth in Iowa
• poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys
• poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys

As far as Fox is concerned, Paul does not have double digit support in New Hampshire so if that is their criteria he should be excluded. But, so should Fred Thompson who, in the latest Zogby Poll (1/4/08) polled lower than Paul. I can’t imagine Zogby is not one of the major surveys.

However, the ABC event should include Ron Paul because he polled at 7%. While Thompson polled at 2% he came in third in Iowa so he should still be included. When ABC and Fox announced their requirements they probably felt safe that Ron Paul would not be able to meet any of them. That is the case with Fox but Paul has exceeded one of ABC’s requirements and should be included.

I am willing to bet that ABC will not let Paul in the debate even though he has met their threshold. It is a shame, but they will exclude him even though he raised more money that Giuliani and placed 7% higher than him in Iowa. Of course, Giuliani has already been invited to the debate.

I am not in favor of excluding anyone. These people have decided to run for the presidency of the United States and all of them have some number of supporters. Additionally, the American people should hear everyone so they have all the information they need to take an informed decision.

I might not support Paul (I have not selected anyone as of yet) but I completely support his right to participate in the debates.

UPDATE: It appears as if Ron Paul will be part of the debate in New Hampshire. After posting this Drudge put up a story that did not make it clear as to whether he had been included or not. I checked the ABC site and he is listed as part of it. Duncan Hunter will not be invited. If he is still in he should be allowed to debate.

Fox News is putting together a forum of Republican candidates to take place two days before the New Hampshire Primary. The release indicates; “Participating in the forum will be Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.” Notice there is no mention of Ron Paul. Ron Paul’s people have contacted the NH GOP Chairman and asked if Paul would be invited and were told that this was unknown. The Chair indicated that this was in the planning stage but that the decision was ultimately Fox’s.

If this is a forum for Republican candidates then Ron Paul should be included as should any other person who is running for the Republican nomination. Fox would not consider excluding Romney or Giuliani and if they did there would be an uproar. The idea of the forums is for voters to get to know the candidates and to be better informed for when they vote. Eliminating any candidate tarnishes the process and makes it appear as if the media (in this case Fox) is deciding for voters who they should and should not hear.

Ron Paul has raised a great deal of money in this quarter and he has a lot of supporters regardless of what his poll numbers show (though money or not, all candidates should be invited). By ignoring him Fox is demonstrating that they are afraid of his candidacy and that they worry he might actually be the nominee. One would think Fox would be a little more sensitive to this considering how the Democrats refused to attend a debate sponsored by the network. Fox was none too pleased to have its credibility challenged and yet the network acts in a way that leaves it open to such criticisms.

Ron Paul deserves to be heard and the people who support him deserve to have their candidate at that event unless he chooses not to participate. All candidates should be invited and all candidates should be heard. Anything less is harmful to the election process and disenfranchises voters.

I did notice that in addition to Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter is not mentioned in the invite. I do not know if he was invited and declined or if he was excluded along with Paul.

B. Hussein Obama said that he has more former Clinton (Bill) foreign policy advisers working for him than Hillary does and that this should show people something. While this claim might or might not be true the Clinton camp felt it was necessary to answer the charge. I can understand why because even if Obama does not have more of them he has a significant number of them and this really should cause people to ask; if she is so wonderful why are her hubby’s former advisers backing her rival?

The Hillary Clinton camp could have answered this charge in a number of ways. They could have ignored it (which is a non answer, really) they could indicated that people do not vote for advisers, which is what they did and if they had stopped there, they might have made the point. Instead, Hillary went one step further by describing the large number of advisers that she does have.

“This is not a campaign between lists of advisers,” Clinton told reporters in a packed diner. “This is a campaign between real people with experience and qualifications to become president on day one.”

~snip~

“Why is the national security adviser of Bill Clinton, the secretary of the Navy of Bill Clinton, the assistant secretary of state for Bill Clinton, why are all these people endorsing me?” Obama said. “They apparently believe that my vision of foreign policy is better suited for the 21st century.”

Clinton rejected the comment’s premise.

“Honestly, it’s a silly question. We have hundreds of people’s support, not just people who were in my husband’s administration, but people from all over the country who have expertise.”

She added: “It’s important to pick the person who can make the best decision, who is tested and proven as a leader.” My Way News

Hillary contends that this is not a campaign about advisers but about experience and then she goes on to say how many advisers she has. If this is a campaign about experience, as she said, then she should have expanded the experience part. Instead, she expanded that which she just said was not important. She said that people do not vote for advisers and then told everyone how many advisers she has.

The reason for this is quite simple, Hillary Clinton does not have the experience she wants everyone to believe she has. Obama has held elected office longer, Obama was against the war in Iraq (though he was not in the Senate) and he voted against the Iran resolution. No matter what one thinks about these issues, Obama and Hillary were opposites on them and if the Democratic base is using the war as the bellwether (this issue is why they say they won the election) than Obama is clearly more in tune with the base than Hillary is. This might be because she triangulated in order to appeal to the general election voters (she was supposed to win the primaries, hands down).

This is more Clinton double speak. They are already down playing the Iowa caucus and lowering expectations. They are doing the same in Hew Hampshire. It is true that Hillary is in trouble in those states but there are reasons for this ploy. They will be able to say they expected the losses if she in fact loses one or both states and if she wins both they can say she is the second coming of the comeback kid. They will say that Iowa and NH were always going to be tough and she never figured to win but she is the comeback kid like her hubby. The reality is, Hillary and her people have been predicting she was the inevitable winner for a year because she held huge leads for most of it.

I can’t figure how she has any support because she talks out of both sides of her face and she has not been truthful for years (remember, she said she never thought about running for president and then jumped right in the race). She has the highest negative ratings of any candidate and she is very polarizing. I might not agree with Obama’s politics but at least he appears to be a warm and charming person.

Hillary is toast and I cannot wait for her to lose so that we can finally rid this country of the vermin known as Clinton.

I have never been shy about my dislike for Hillary Clinton. She is a manipulative liar who has been planning to be president for decades after making a pact with her equally dishonest husband. He was to be first and then it was her turn, as if people get turns at leading this country. That idea in and of itself shows that she feels entitled to the job and that it is rightfully hers. She has been the front runner for a long time and was dubbed the inevitable winner of the nomination. Now it appears that her inevitable run is in jeopardy and people are piling on her after a bad month or so.

Hillary promised not to go negative and that she was focusing on the issues. In a debate, Bill Richardson (hoping to be selected as Hillary’s VP) came to her defense and said that they should stop picking on her. She indicated that if people were going to throw mud they should get their facts straight. She had been sliding in the polls and after the debate she slid even farther and all of the sudden she was going to get dirty, something she called “fun.”

Hillary went into open attack mode (she and surrogates had been attacking in secret all along) and she picked on what Obama wrote in kindergarten. This was not exactly a smart move. Remember Hillary wanted to be a number of things when she was a child and I don’t think those ideas should be used against her, unless of course, she lied about them so she would look more human. Then one of her staff sent out the Obama is a Muslim email and Hillary had to deny it. Polls dropping. Then one of her people questioned Obama’s admitted past drug use. I predicted that would haunt her especially given her husband’s lame lie about his own. Polls dropped further and Obama becomes tied or is slightly ahead. Campaign workers resign (or were fired) over the incidents.

Hillary started last January as the heir apparent and is now in position to be an also ran. She is in danger of losing the first four primaries which would likely be a death blow to her campaign. She went into this week’s debate in an unfamiliar position, as a person trying to catch up. For once, she was not the front runner. Her husband is in a tizzy and her campaign, despite what she says, is in a shambles. Bill is so worked up his ailing heart might explode before this thing is over and it appears as if the recent influx of campaign workers has some concerned that some caucus tampering might be forthcoming. I know the Clintons have denied this but they deny everything. Does anyone actually think they will ever admit to any wrong doing? They have been caught a number of times and yet they deny, deny, deny and then when there is evidence they blame someone or something else. The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy comes to mind.

Hillary continues to say she is the best to fend off the Republican “attack machine” (as if the Democrats do not have their own) because she has been under scrutiny for 16 years and has nothing to hide. This is only partly true. She has been under scrutiny but she has plenty to hide. The truth is still out there with regard to the many scandals they have both been involved in. Someone with hard evidence could show up and really blow her out of the water. I know a lot of the people with evidence are dead but that does not mean there are no others. One bimbo eruption with video or DNA evidence with respect to Bill during the general election and she is toast. She presses on but there are many sources now doubting if she can win the primary or, if she does, the general.

• The notion that she has a post-Iowa “firewall” in New Hampshire is a fantasy, and she is in danger of losing all four early contests, including Nevada and South Carolina – probably to Sen. Barack Obama, who is now, in momentum terms, the Democratic front runner. [MSNBC]
• Barack Obama has come from behind to turn the Democratic presidential race in New Hampshire into a toss-up, according to a new Monitor opinion poll. The results – which show Obama with a one-point edge over Hillary Clinton – mirror other polls released this week, indicating that Clinton’s once-imposing lead has evaporated in the run-up to New Hampshire’s Jan. 8 primary. [Concord Monitor]
• Hillary precinct captain now supports Obama (Video) [You Tube]
• The Democratic Party chairman in Wyoming is predicting that Democratic candidates throughout the Rocky Mountain region will be damaged if his party selects Hillary Clinton for president. [Denver Post]
• This thought occurs that Hillary Clinton’s entire campaign is, and always was, a Potemkin village, a giant head fake, a haughty facade hollow at the core. That she is disorganized on the ground in Iowa, taken aback by a challenge to her invincibility, that she doesn’t actually have an A team, that her advisers have always been chosen more for proven loyalty than talent, that her supporters don’t feel deep affection for her. [WSJ Opinion Journal]
• “If I had listened to … the Washington chattering class, I would not be standing here would I?” Clinton told reporters, as controversy and reports of campaign turmoil swirled around her 2008 presidential bid.

  “I believe in trusting my own instincts. I feel very, very good about the case that I am making.” [Breitbart]

The last quote is from Hillary and I expect that all candidates feel they are the best so this is no surprise. The problem is, she did listen to the DC chattering class. A lot of them told her to run and she has more endorsements from Democrats in Congress than any other candidate. She wanted to run and they knew it so they encouraged her to run though she would have done it anyway. She believes it is her destiny.

As far as trusting her instincts, how did that work out with her and Bill with regard to his rape and sexual assaults? Did she have any instincts telling her something was amiss? Did she ignore them in order to pursue her dream of being president? She did say there are worse things than the infidelity (and there are). Did she mean losing her chance at the White House.

Remember, without Bill she would be an unknown and she would never have been elected to office. She only has his last name as a plus to the electorate, otherwise no one would know her and they certainly would not vote for her.

It will be fun over the next few weeks. I predict that there will be more dirt despite Hillary’s claim that it will not happen again. She is desperate and she sees her destiny slipping away. The compact primary season makes recovery very difficult and she will be on the ropes if Obama can pull off wins in Iowa and New Hampshire.

I can’t wait for the fun if she loses. I think she might have a nervous breakdown and start accusing all kinds of people of incompetence.

One last thing. There are very important votes taking place in Congress this week. The federal government needs a budget and our troops need money. Why are all the people running for office not in Congress doing the work of the people?