"Obamamaniacs

Why does it not surprise me that Obama's young punk squad was trying to shout down another candidate at a major Democratic dinner? No wonder these thugish tactics work at caucuses."

I believe it was before ANYONE took the stage.

Too bad, the Clintistas just don't think fast enough...

Re: "Obviously, the Hillary Clinton supporters should do the gracious and honorable thing and urge their candidate to quit now and support Barack Obama..."

You know Obama won't win, so you need Hillary to drop out. She will win Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the remaining primary states. Her fundraising is back on track, and she has a new campaign manager. However, the old one is still working for her as an advisor and will bring in Texas.

And let's not forget Florida and Michigan. The DNC wants to throw out Hillary's win in Florida and hold a caucus instead.

hahahah No Way!

I'll vote for McCain over Obama. If Clinton gets the nomination, I'll vote for her. The unity theme of Obama with no real experience of unifying of anyone sounds more and more like propoganda from the Democrats. The rest of the world doesn't buy America's propoganda about the nominees. The rest of the world doesn't care how happy Obama makes Americans because he is promising change. Get it everyone? Your vote is about taking care of the UNited States, not feeling good for a minute during a speech. Pick the prepared candidate for president, because this vote does have very real consequences for our future. If you want to feel good and hopeful, go have a beer or something.

No wonder you're anonymous. Whatever the Clinton are paying you to post, it's too much. You've not a thread of credibility, and the vocabulary of a third grader. Nice name calling though. You might want to update your widdle notebook: my wife and I, both in our sixties, are strong Obaba supporters, as are my parent, in their mid eighties. So sod off.

Remember it's easier to hate than to understand.

The ADA was passed in 1990, during the Bush pere administration. Some of its provisions took effect in 1991, and it came into full effect in 1993. I'm curious what you think Hillary had to do with passing the ADA.

On another thread, I always liked Hillary's cookie comment and was disappointed when she backed down from it.

Obama is dividing the party

Obama is using the hatred of Hillary from the media and the right wing and trying to split the party's base to his advantage. In this regard, he is just a garden variety politician.

So much for his strategy of hope, change, and new ideals.

Spoken like a true pseudo-liberal, psuedo-progressive - hell, even psuedo-centrist - Clintonite.

I support Obama. But if Hillary wins the nomination, I will vote for her; unlike you, Clintonista, my sense of duty to the liberal community and progressive cause vastly outweigh any feelings of sour grapes.

That is what it means to be an Obama supporter. Any questions?

Yes, Obama is splitting votes away from Billary, in droves. That's what the primaries are supposed to do, Einstein. Ms. Clinton's 47% unfavorable rating precedes anything the Obama campaign could have done to "drive up her negatives". Nothing would unite the frothing fascists like a Billary campaign. You should know: you're one of 'em. love, Heywood.

Sorry. I forget that not everybody knows all the details about ADA -- "Washington mentality" and all that...

Businesses challenged the ADA, almost from its inception. After ADA took effect (1992), businesses legally challenged ADA in court to let states -- not fed. govt. -- determine who was "disabled." Since that time, ADA has been weakened by USOC decisions.

HRC's role during her husband's administration was several-fold: 1. she worked with disabilities rights groups and members of Congress to strengthen the act through a youth-to-work initiative that would increase funds and support for young people going from home to school to work; and 2. she worked with disabilities rights groups and civil rights organizations to start the second phase of the battle: strengthening ADA's provisions to cover those employees who were not covered under the original act.

Today -- in part as a result of her longstanding commitment to ADA -- Congress is moving to not only restore provisions of ADA that have been weakened by USOC decisions, but to implement provisions that provide greater coverage of employees with disabilities. The current legislation is ADA Restoration Act.

HRC wants to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

She supports equality of benefits -- all benefits -- for citizens regardless of sexual orientation.

She supports civil unions/domestic partnerships.

Now, you can check Barack Obama's positions on these things. They may well be similar. I know that both candidates believe in marriage as a special commitment between a man and a woman.

As I said earlier, HRC's positions are NOT the same as those of her husband!

I have to stand back from all of this and blink for a moment.

No one knows whether Obama or Clinton will take the nomination. It's tight.

No one knows who would emerge as the strongest candidate to win in the general elections, either; the republican machinery most certainly has plenty of sleeved cards, and all sorts of unexpected events can shift voter opinion very rapidly.

And then, it's very difficult to predict how policies would actually fall out with either candidate elected and in place, as policies are realized in a context that's very mutable and tricky. As someone pointed out, presidents are not monarchs. There are so many variables in play that it's tempting to run with easy speculation as if it were prophetic. (Although many of us "pretty much" knew that we'd have a disastrous invasion of Iraq well before Bush was elected. His loathsome cronies had been cooking it up for years.)

I find myself pulling away from this increasingly rancorous discussion, though I'm all for lively discourse.

The thing is, Bush et alia will be gone. OMG. Can we pause and hold hands and quietly rejoice for a moment? (Shut UP! I KNOW! But really, it has been so hideous.) Just for ballast? One brief and unblushing Kumbaya, HilaryorObama, and then back to the fray?

It has been so completely, so overwhelmingly discouraging and nauseating and alienating and viciously destructive a.. regime. AND, really, in that context? Hillary? Oh, gorgeous, wonderful, blessed relief! Obama? Oh, lovely, splendid, felicitous hour! And the Democrats are going to win this one.

Well, obviously, (see above), I might be wrong. But my bet is that either of them can take this election, and my conviction is that both of them are capable of great presidency. At worst, a very, very much better presidency.

I feel very much less less excited about spending my energy tearing either of them into shreds, as if I were a Republican smear machine, when I realize that I will ride the horse whichever way it's going with unfettered joy. It's all relative.

And I want to give not a dollop of fuel to the other camp. Hillary and Obama -- they are my choice. Whichever one runs, I am going to be unhesitatingly supportive. Out with the bad air, in with the good, and politicians are all a little filthy so let's grow up.

I like Obama for his wholesome vision of a country where "other camp" is underplayed, and idealistic, ennobling commonality is thematic; it actually makes him a slick player, as his coups in the Senate show. I like Hillary for being nobody's fool and for being less disingenuous about the fact that there IS another, and a very noxious camp. (Obama knows that, too.) Politics are hardball and she knows how to play. Either way. That's all rhetoric. In substance their platforms are very similar and will be subjected to similar pressures and we will endure the usual disappointments. Hillary has had time to collect more dirt; it's inevitable. Give the Rove machine, or just history, a little more time, and Obama will be equally well-slimed without the help of Democrats. I prefer him, some, but there's much to be said for Hillary too. Dirt versus Dew? Jaded and Corrupt versus Naive and Glossy? Oh, stop it. These are (relatively) fabulous candidates. They are even both INTELLIGENT. Think Cheney, Rumsfeld, o my... and be merry and glad.

I think it might behoove progressives, liberals, damned centrists and anyone else who wants the republicans very gone just now, (and i think that is a whole ot of folks), to keep the discourse focused on that, and mutually respectful, and well... for both of these candidates, a little respect, mon.