Politics, Business, Culture

Even standing amid the tearful aging hippies in Central Park, in what would become known as Strawberry Fields, a day or two after John Lennon was killed, listening to the stunned and swaying crowd sing along to the lyrics of his famous anthem, Imagine, even then the editor of RedPhoneDiaries believed it to be one of the most idiotic songs ever written. Nothing to live or die for? No religion too? Imagine all the people, living for today? Frankly, we would rather not. Finally, Bret Stephens, writing in his column Global View for the Wall Street Journal, explains why.

William McGurn writes an incisive article in his Main Street column in today’s Wall Street Journal opinion page, Obama, Religion and the Public Square. It seems apparent already, early in the general election campaign, that Barack Obama will do more to inject religion into the national debate than will the Republican nominee, John McCain. McGurn explains why this is a very good thing for the Democratic Party, and the nation.

Time Magazine piece by Amy Sullivan (Thursday, June 5th), Why Didn’t More Women Vote for Hillary Clinton? disputes the conventional wisdom, which has been that Hillary as Veep will bring Obama the women voters who rejected him in the primary season. They did not reject him. Indeed, women under 40 embraced him, women over 60 went for Hillary, and and he and Hillary broke even with women voters in between, and women voters overall. So, scratch one more reason for Obama to consider taking Billary as his VP.

On a quiet Saturday afternoon in the early summertime, with a heat wave scorching the District, Hillary Clinton today at last, begrudgingly, accepted reality. She ended her campaign… well actually she suspended her campaign, and formally endorsed Barack Obama and urged her legion of followers to campaign for him. She could have done this on Tuesday evening in primetime, Continue reading →

Chris Cillizza writes on his Washington Post blog, The Fix, that Hillary’s “concession speech tomorrow afternoon in Washington will be one of the most closely watched — and eternally analyzed — political addresses in modern history.” Continue reading →

According to Associated Press reporters Beth Fouhy and Devlin Barrett, Hillary Rodham Clinton told colleagues Tuesday she would consider joining Barack Obama as his running mate, and advisers said she was withholding a formal departure from the race partly to use her remaining leverage to press for a spot on the ticket. On a conference call with other lawmakers, Clinton said she was willing to become Obama’s vice presidential nominee if it would help Democrats win the White House, according to several participants in the call. Continue reading →

This morning the Associated Press released a story quoting anonymous sources within the Clinton campaign, indicating that Hillary would “concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.” Cable news networks jumped on the story and recast tonight’s Clinton rally as the venue for a concession speech, but campaign manager Terry McAuliffe and adviser Harold Ickes immediately took to the airwaves to emphatically deny the AP report.

RedPhoneDiaries is also hearing that the South Dakota primary is too close to call, Continue reading →

In December 2007, Clinton campaign adviser Harold Ickes told Tim Russert on Meet the Press, “Timothy, delegates nominate. Not states, not popular vote, delegates.”

Today, Mr. Ickes sings an entirely different tune. Here is the transcript of his visit yesterday with Tim Russert. Continue reading →

It’s 1968 all over again. Get out your armbands and flowers, people. Busloads of Hillary Clinton supporters are heading to the District from Florida and Michigan to protest at the DNC Rules & Bylaws Meeting on Saturday. Calvin Woodward of AP has the details as of today.

Naturally, the Clinton campaign disavowed having anything to do with the planned rally. “I am aware that there are lots of people very passionate about this topic who are coming,” said Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson.

In today’s First Read, Mark Murray details “Hillary’s Final Pitch.” Her final argument to superdelegates relies on just one thing: electability. She and Bill are also talking a lot lately about the popular vote, but that argument is specious in the extreme, because it depends entirely on the inclusion of votes from the non-contested and uncounted Florida and Michigan primaries. Counting uncounted votes appears to be, well… Clintonesque. Continue reading →