Hillary Clinton, spinning and attacking, reels from the revelation
of her repeated, dramatically false statements on Bosnia.
** CALIFORNIA POLL: OBAMA STRONGER THAN HILLARY AGAINST MCCAIN. The new Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll, which was embargoed until late night, shows Barack Obama running stronger in California against John McCain than John Hillary Clinton. In California, it’s Obama 49%, McCain 40. And Clinton 46%, McCain 43%, essentially a dead heat. Obama has a much higher favorable rating in California, 61% to McCain’s 49% and Clinton’s 45%. More about this in the AM. The poll also shows Californians souring on state government amidst economic and budgetary woes, and what may be the beginning of an emerging consensus that a combination of spending cuts and revenue increases will be necessary for the latter.
** QUICK HITS. John McCain’s big speech in LA on national security and geopolitics was a success. Carried on all the cable news nets, the speech and subsequent Q&A was 60 minutes of McCain the statesman. Resolute on Islamic jihadism without saber rattling, a closing of Guantanamo, a departure from Bush on climate change, a return to a qualified multilateralism through new overtures to Europe and the League of Democracies I’ve mentioned before, with more focus on Latin America and Asia. Not unlike an updated Scoop Jackson approach mixed with environmentalism. But does he have new solutions on Iraq if the current ones don’t work. Um, no. More on that tomorrow. McCain is raising serious money in California. But he is still heavily dependent on events, unlike the Democrats, especially Barack Obama, who has created a 21st century fundraising machine that is not at all dependent on fat cats. … Meanwhile, back at the bash … Former President Bill Clinton campaigning in West Virginia, shedding his recent pose above the fray, invoked the fray as raison d’etre for his wife’s continued role in the campaign, saying that “If a politician doesn’t wanna get beat up, he shouldn’t run for office.” Oh, does he want to get beat up? Well, if that’s what he wants … Hillary Clinton continued to struggle with the revelations of her repeated and dramatically false statements on her Bosnia role. Meanwhile, 20 of the Clintons’ financial backers sent a nasty letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she should back off her stance that superdelegates ought to back the winner of the most delegates in primaries and caucuses, pointedly referencing their past roles as money providers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. But frankly, these folks are not as important as they used to be. Really rich people, conventional bundlers, these folks will always have importance, especially in getting something going. But the Internet has created a new fundraising model, and the model that these folks represent is fading.
** NEW TECH PROBLEMS. My road Internet connection was down for about 90 minutes, when I was going to write up the John McCain geopolitics address. Which I’ll do for tomorrow. I’m going to look into satellite Internet.
** OBAMA REBOUNDS IN GALLUP POLL. In the regular Gallup Poll, conducted over a four-day period but not counting Easter Sunday, Barack Obama is back to a slight 47% to 46% edge over Hillary Clinton. In the immediate aftermath of the Jeremiah Wright firestorm, Obama had dropped from a lead into a a seven-point deficit, 42% to 49%.
This poll was mostly conducted prior to the controversy over Clinton’s repeated false statements about Bosnia.
** AIR FORCE PILOT WHO FLEW HILLARY TO BOSNIA REFUTES AIR PORTION OF HER STORY. Hillary Clinton has repeatedly told the now thoroughly debunked story of her death-defying mission to Bosnia 12 years ago yesterday. The US Air Force pilot who flew her in to the now obviously heavily guarded Tuzla base refutes the remaining element of her tale, the one regarding the “evasive maneuver” that Clinton had him making before making the famous arrival.
Never happened, says the pilot.
** NWN TECH PROBLEMS UPDATE. Some problems caused by the shift in underlying tech undertaken late Monday afternoon are still continuing. They appear to affect the Forum section most of all, although some people have been able to post.
** LATEST PODCAST. My thoughts on The Speech, the race, and the road ahead.
** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.
Hillary Clinton is in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Bill Clinton campaigns across West Virginia in Parkersburg, Chesapeake, and Beckley.
Barack Obama, back from his Virgin Islands mini-vacation, has a town hall meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina.
John McCain, fresh from a big fundraiser last night on the West Side of Los Angeles, delivers his first major address on national security and geopolitics following last week’s tour of the Middle East and Europe this morning to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. He has major fundraisers later in the day in Pebble Beach and at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco.
** EXCERPTS FROM THIS MORNING’S JOHN MCCAIN ADDRESS ON NATIONAL SECURITY AND GEOPOLITICS.
“When I was five years old, a car pulled up in front of our house in New London, Connecticut, and a Navy officer rolled down the window, and shouted at my father that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. My father immediately left for the submarine base where he was stationed. I rarely saw him again for four years.
“My grandfather, who commanded the fast carrier task force under Admiral Halsey, came home from the war exhausted from the burdens he had borne, and died the next day.
“In Vietnam, where I formed the closest friendships of my life, some of those friends never came home to the country they loved so well. I detest war. It might not be the worst thing to befall human beings, but it is wretched beyond all description.
“When nations seek to resolve their differences by force of arms, a million tragedies ensue. The lives of a nation’s finest patriots are sacrificed. Innocent people suffer and die. Commerce is disrupted; economies are damaged; strategic interests shielded by years of patient statecraft are endangered as the exigencies of war and diplomacy conflict. Not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war. Whatever gains are secured, it is loss the veteran remembers most keenly.
“Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war. However heady the appeal of a call to arms, however just the cause, we should still shed a tear for all that is lost when war claims its wages from us. …
“The United States cannot lead by virtue of its power alone. …
“If we lead by shouldering our international responsibilities and pointing the way to a better and safer future for humanity, it will strengthen us to confront the transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical Islamic terrorism. …
“Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed. We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies.”
** BILL CLINTON COMPARES THE CAMPAIGN TO AN EPISODE OF “DALLAS.” In an emotional day of campaigning yesterday in Kentucky, reports the Hotline blog, former President Bill Clinton compared the race to an episode of Dallas, said his wife deserves the chance to run through all the primaries and caucuses, likened himself to a zoo animal as an object of curiosity, and mused about the huge crowds he once drew as president.
President Clinton will be at the California Democratic Party convention this weekend in San Jose. There he will give a speech on Sunday, and meet privately with a group of uncommitted superdelegates. All of whom, as it happens, he has spoken with several times before.
** SCHWARZENEGGER LIVE WEBCAST THIS MORNING. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger renews his push for his version of California budget reform in a meeting with local elected officials and leaders in law enforcement, business, and the community in the Central Coast community of San Luis Obispo. The event will be webcast live at 10 AM.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.
You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $102 to $103 per barrel range on news of a freshly weakening dollar.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
Read 
| Comments (0) |
I’m getting tired of Bill Clinton.
Whatever for?
Sorry.
>Ann :
This still isn’t working right. Growl.
Mar 26, 2008 04:59 PM
Sorry.
>Ann :
This still isn’t working right. Growl.
Mar 26, 2008 04:59 PM
Fascinating pyschodrama …
In answer, I think I know who is coming out to Cali for Obama this weekend, but can’t confirm yet.
If it’s who I think it is … heh heh heh.
>Brasky :
“…Bill Clinton saying today that nobody should be in politics who doesn’t want to be beaten up.”
Indeed.
BTW, who’s going to speak for Obama at convention?
Mar 26, 2008 04:49 PM
I want to see Fancy Nancy Pelosi tell the pushy Clinton fat cats to stuff it. That will tell me she has a brain and backbone after all.
I want to see Fancy Nancy Pelosi tell the pushy Clinton fat cats to stuff it. That will tell me she has a brain and backbone after all.
“If it’s who I think it is … heh heh heh.”
Ok, that’s a big tease.
It better be John Edwards. Failing that, Sinbad.
Oprah would be the best Obama surrogate at the CA Democratic Party Convention. She would get national news coverage for the Obama message.
Oprah would be the best Obama surrogate at the CA Democratic Party Convention. She would get national news coverage for the Obama message.
Was the Clinton campaign kind enough to get Norman Hsu’s signature on that letter to Pelosi?
I hear the visiting room at Leavenworth is open every day except Wednesday and Thursday…
Was the Clinton campaign kind enough to get Norman Hsu’s signature on that letter to Pelosi?
I hear the visiting room at Leavenworth is open every day except Wednesday and Thursday…
Kid – don’t disrespect my man Sinbad.
No, he wasn’t one of the 20. Lotta New Yorkers on that list, who already have a center of the world thing going.
>Brasky :
Was the Clinton campaign kind enough to get Norman Hsu’s signature on that letter to Pelosi?
I hear the visiting room at Leavenworth is open every day except Wednesday and Thursday…
Mar 26, 2008 05:36 PM
Okay, it’s not Oprah.
>Kandy Kid :
Oprah would be the best Obama surrogate at the CA Democratic Party Convention. She would get national news coverage for the Obama message.
Mar 26, 2008 05:30 PM
Okay, it’s not Oprah.
>Kandy Kid :
Oprah would be the best Obama surrogate at the CA Democratic Party Convention. She would get national news coverage for the Obama message.
Mar 26, 2008 05:30 PM
Sorry. I didn’t know for sure last time I had a chance to check last night.
>Brasky :
“If it’s who I think it is … heh heh heh.”
Ok, that’s a big tease.
It better be John Edwards. Failing that, Sinbad.
Mar 26, 2008 05:27 PM
I suspect she knows where the future is heading.
>marcus :
I want to see Fancy Nancy Pelosi tell the pushy Clinton fat cats to stuff it. That will tell me she has a brain and backbone after all.
Mar 26, 2008 05:17 PM
I suspect she knows where the future is heading.
>marcus :
I want to see Fancy Nancy Pelosi tell the pushy Clinton fat cats to stuff it. That will tell me she has a brain and backbone after all.
Mar 26, 2008 05:17 PM
Just talked to a buddy – “heh heh heh” indeed!
Damnit, if it’s true, I gotta find a ticket to convention.
Aww…C’mon! Share with the rest of us!
Aww…C’mon! Share with the rest of us!
Aww…C’mon! Share with the rest of us!
I do not have a ticket to the convention but, I had a ticket to see Fergie in Vegas. Spring Break was wild! …I think you guys need a trip to Vegas to sharpen your edges:)
sorry, my tip has since been deflated by other informed sources. I’m now more confused than ever.
sigh
sorry, my tip has since been deflated by other informed sources. I’m now more confused than ever.
sigh
new overtures to Europe and the League of Democracies – and not to the UN would hope?
new overtures to Europe and the League of Democracies – and not to the UN would hope?
Does anyone know when it is permissible for superdelegates to declare their intentions? Some have been doing so already, but is that “legal” under this stupid, concocted scheme?
The Clintons are a nasty bad joke. They better hope they don’t steal the nomination from Obama. They have SOOOO many pathetic lies to answer for.
“I never had sex with … THAT WOMAN.”
“I ran from the sniper fire.”
“I don’t know where the money came from.”
PATHETIC.
Bill, I think you’ve mixed up Hillary Clinton and John McCain in your opening sentence. Of course, that’s increasingly understandable…
“** CALIFORNIA POLL: OBAMA STRONGER THAN HILLARY AGAINST MCCAIN. The new Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll, which was embargoed until late night, shows Barack Obama running stronger in California against Hillary Clinton than John McCain.”
Bill, I think you’ve mixed up Hillary Clinton and John McCain in your opening sentence. Of course, that’s increasingly understandable…
“** CALIFORNIA POLL: OBAMA STRONGER THAN HILLARY AGAINST MCCAIN. The new Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll, which was embargoed until late night, shows Barack Obama running stronger in California against Hillary Clinton than John McCain.”
What new video today?