“No decisions tonight”

The headline says “CNN projects Obama clinches nomination”, but during what in many ways has sounded like a concession speech, Clinton has declared: “I will be making no decisions tonight”.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

2,132 comments on ““No decisions tonight””

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  2. The politics of the impeachment motions seems to be aimed at hamstringing Bush as much as anything, and to this end it is a good move. Regardless of their overt ‘success’ or otherwise, if such politics keep the previous f*ckups in the media for a couple of months, chances of war against Iran go out the window.

  3. Hey Optimist!
    One hopes that in November the American people slam the final nail in the coffin of the Bush administration.

  4. Onya, Catrina, at 1942 for posting Kucinich’s 35 AoI. And hear, hear Basil at 1943. “Martin Luthur Kucinich”, very good, Kirri.

    The below 5 particularly tweak my odious-ometer.

    Article III
    Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed eapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.

    Article XV
    Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

    Article XIX
    Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

    Article XXXII
    Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

    Article XXXIV
    Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
    http://www.progressive.org/mag_wx0601008

    Froomkin: “ Impeachment (Non) Watch
    The Associated Press reports: “Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential contender, said Monday he wants the House to consider a resolution to impeach President Bush.
    “Speaker Nancy Pelosi consistently has said impeachment was ‘off the table.’
    “Kucinich, D-Ohio, read his proposed impeachment language in a floor speech. He contended Bush deceived the nation and violated his oath of office in leading the country into the Iraq war.”
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/06/10/BL2008061001537_5.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
    —————————
    Progressive, ego tripping, neurotic trolls only get their jollies when commenters of goodwill are goaded into retaliation. These jerks are little league cyber vandals and if posters pay them no heed, they become increasingly more strident before sulking off to some caecum in cyberspace where they obtain the gratification they desire by having people “bite” when they calculatedly jerk their chains.

    For the rest of June I’m placing a strict personal embargo on the time-wasters and urge others who come here for reasons other than deliberate disruption to do likewise.

    As Obi has demonstrated, if we act together on this we are capable of effecting “change we can believe in”. Sure, I’ve been sucked in to replaying to trolls more than I should have, but if we all wipe them together, nobody will be diminished by not responding to their personal low-rent gee-ups.

    Try it till the end of June, and like Tamagotchi toys, they’ll fade away bleatingly till their batteries go flat.

  5. Progressive,
    damn straight – Go Barry!
    The thing I’m hoping for is a massive Democratic majority in both houses of congress and Barry in the White House. That way, the path will finally be clear for real reform on health care, social security, education, an opportunity to repair foreign relations, media reform, true exposure of Bush/Cheney’s crimes and so on and so on and so on. The repugs have lost three formerly safe congressional seats in recent by-elections which suggests to me that the above scenario is a real possibility.
    It will also consign Joe Lieberman to the history books which would be no bad thing at all.

  7. Optimist at 1955

    The thing I’m hoping for is a massive Democratic majority in both houses of congress and Barry in the White House. That way, the path will finally be clear for real reform on health care, social security, education, an opportunity to repair foreign relations, media reform, true exposure of Bush/Cheney’s crimes and so on and so on and so on. The repugs have lost three formerly safe congressional seats in recent by-elections which suggests to me that the above scenario is a real possibility.
    It will also consign Joe Lieberman to the history books which would be no bad thing at all.

    I am Catrina and I approve this message.

  9. Optimist at 1956 and 1958
    I’m sending you a virtual fist bump!
    Gosh – I which there was a little emoticon for just this moment!

  13. Bomb-Bomb’s Bush Burden:

    {KRANJ, Slovenia (AP) — First lady Laura Bush acknowledged President Bush’s unpopularity, but said Monday that history will vindicate her husband’s two-term presidency.

    “I know he may not be that popular right now, but we’ve liberated two countries — 50 million people have been liberated from very brutal regimes — and I think that’s really important,” she said.

    “He’s going to have a really unbelievably great legacy, with the advantage of hindsight,” she said.}

    http://caglepost.com/cartoon/John+Cole/51820/Bush+and+history.html

    http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?ID=1771

    http://caglepost.com/cartoon/RJ+Matson/51833/Senate+Intelligence+Report-COLOR.html

  14. 1954

    Ecky, he could have inserted a word here:

    Article XIX

    “innocent”

    As some of those people so ‘rendered’ were innocent, as in, they nabbed the wrong person, tortured them and then dumped them in foreign places when they eventually stopped having fun with them.

    The Administration has just claimed that CIA agents involved in one case in Germany cannot be extradited for illegal activities in that country because it would, get this: “jeopardise national security”!

    Friggin’ a-seholes.

    (Martin Luther Kucinich….very cute. It amazes me how subliminal one’s tropes are, as I hadn’t quite got to compounding the initials even though I kept hearing the “King” as I was typing it! Thanks for completing my imagery Ecky, I’ll know who to turn to when the Alzheimer’s kicks in! LOL)

  15. 1956

    Opti, the first blogger on that hits the spot:

    O’Reilly is on now with Robert Novak. They are sitting around marveling about how popular Obama is with the press. They seem really confused by all of this “pop culture” stuff that is going on about Obama. Novak says the press is even more “in the tank” for Obama than they were with JFK. Get it? “In the tank”. It’s a way of putting a negative spin on popularity, charisma, energy and new ideas. You know all those things Mccain and the Republicans abhor.

    If you remember this is exactly the same kind of strategy that failed so badly for Hillary Clinton. Trying to turn hope and change and optimism and unity into bad things is a very daunting task. Just ask Hillary. I am almost surprised that the Repubs would make the exact same blunder so soon after watching it destroy Hillary’s campaign. But then I remembered. Republicans are stupid.

    …which is quite astute. Clinton fell on her own sword and now the rightwing nutters are following her into the trench to do the same.

    It’s really just too funny, and of course, desperate.

  17. Strictly speaking NO plus an underhand swipe that Ohio is 50-50 for Obama. The search for Veep could turn out to be a real problem for Obama.

    [Ted Strickland, the Democratic governor of that battleground state of Ohio, a longtime supporter of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, signaled his disinclination to be on the Democratic ticket in an interview on National Public Radio today.

    Asked if he was angling to become Senator Barack Obama’s vice-presidential running mate, he told NPR: “Absolutely not. If drafted I will not run, nominated I will not accept, and if elected I will not serve.”

    ABC’s Political Radar caught this all early. NPR has the audio here. But it doesn’t sound like sour grapes, even though Mr. Strickland worked his Ohioan machine toward Senator Clinton’s March 4 victory and raised their hands together amid falling confetti in victory on that primary night.

    The interview continues. When asked to rank Mr. Obama’s difficulty in carrying the Buckeye State in the general election cycle, Mr. Strickland told NPR: “I would say somewhere around 5 in a scale of 1 to 10. I think it’s, I just think it’s a challenge because of the nature of our state.”]

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/ohio-gov-doesnt-want-to-be-vp/

  18. Wow, some legacy that McCain thinks GWB will be leaving behind: “We are going to get our priorities straight in Washington — a clean break from years of squandered wealth and wasted chances.”

    How many people leave office smelling like they’re wearing a dead cat even to the top brass of their own party, and with the power of retrospect wind up having a, like totally, “really unbelievably great legacy”? Not so many. Itz not like his mem-wars are, y’know, like, gunna kunvins everywan how gr8 he wuz.

    Nothing terribly underhanded or swipy in Strickland saying that Obama is a 50/50 to win Ohio. That’s just a reality right now. The opinion polls and pundits have him somewhere around that mark.

    One of the top 20 VP candidates counts himself out: so what? Not exactly running out of options. Oh, and on intrade, ‘none of this field’ still ranks higher than any of the dozen-or-so named candidates. VPs frequently come from off the radar.

  19. Ronski

    It is a common mistake to make judgements based on what is presented. What is NOT presented is often more important. Bush (generically) hid all evidence against WMD in Iraq and only presented the evidence he wanted the world to see. Most of that was fabricated (literally in the case of Nigerian documents) or based on the uncorroborated testimony of a lying scumbag. In a trial, you are always going to be found guilty if only the prosecution side presents their argument and the defence says nothing. All voices to the contrary about the lack of credibility of the WMD intel were dismissed or ignored.

    Even if Iraq had WMD (like almost every country in the world) since when has it become acceptable to start a pre-emptive war on a country which have not threatened you, especially when there is no credible terrorist link to that Government?

  20. “…and yes Virginia has now moved to the goodies:”

    Brings to mind that old saying, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

    On other matters, Pancho has a point about Kucinich’s impeachment attempt. If it keeps in the news the deceit and arrogant stuffups over Iraq, then they’re less likely to get away with an attempt on Iran, despite Israel’s enthusiasm.

  22. DW @ 1970: Would be very very surprised if there were any attempt on Iran during GWB’s dying months, regardless of impeachment or anything else. The idea that an unexpected ‘surgical strike’ would cause any demonstrable improvements in regional security is so counterintuitive that it couldn’t fly well with the US electorate. The alternative is building up the case for such a strike by an ongoing propaganda war (a la late 2002/early 2003) taking some months. The run has been left too late for that.

  24. 2 new Rasmussen polls!
    NEW JERSEY: Obama 48, McCain 39
    GEORGIA: McCain 51, Obama 41
    I’m rather sceptical of the claims Obama can somehow win the South, this poll would seem to back up my view.
    Obama would do better holding everything Kerry won in 2004, then adding Ohio, Iowa, New Mexico to the mix!

  25. 1968
    SimonH Says:
    June 11th, 2008 at 11:30 am

    Wow, some legacy that McCain thinks GWB will be leaving behind: “We are going to get our priorities straight in Washington — a clean break from years of squandered wealth and wasted chances.”

    ……
    sounds to me like McCain is going to be campaigning for Obama

  26. P @ 1974: He can’t win “the south”. He can win Virginia (50% chance) and North Carolina (20-30% chance) with Georgia a real roughie if things went so well for him that he probably wouldn’t need it. Virginia would be a huge prize and everyone knows it– their residents are going to get pummelled between here and November.

  31. Diogenisky

    #1969

    In reply to your post , the difficulty discussing Iraq is the mixed matters raised from idealogical , to the “US war machine” , to political , and emotional issues , not the least being the 0000’s of innocents that have died

    You said Diogenes#1834
    “The fact that Hillary, Biden etc (that also includes John Kerry & John Edwards as well) believed it (or were uncritical) reflects the fact that even hardened politicians like that could not believe they could be lied to so blatantly”

    I agree with your #1834 completely. The Intell came from all established credible US intelligence agencys. Furthermore it was substantive & visual, and overwhelmingly persuasive. Responsible Pollies considered this evidence & many including the 28 Dems believed the case was clearly made (so do I). Those Pollies rightly acted to protect the publics national security as their first priority.
    Others for idealogical or intell qualifications reasons took a different view

    Hindsight Reports now reveal that all fundamental Intelligence agencys & sectors used by US Pollies so they can actually protect the Public’s national security were completely corrupted by Bush/Cheney , but this does not make the 28 Dems guilty , it makes them the innocent victims of almost treasonable fraud committed by Bush/Cheney. These 28 Dems critically assessed plural Agencys adverse Iraq data & the Inspectors Reports and made a judgement decision. Other Dems for idealogical & qualifications reasons on some info took a different view

    The argument run by the Bill O’Reillys/Hannity’s against Hillary/Edwards/Kerry (& later by ‘left’ media) was similarly flawed. IF Bush/Cheney are guilty of credible gross corruption & fraud by them of CIA/NSA & other Agencys Iraq Intell then they are guilty of this offence , and the recipients ie. the 28 Dems are innocent. IF however , Bush/Cheney are not guilty of of credibly falsifying all CIA/NSA etc Intell & only made alterations at the margin ie the Intell was basically correct ,then Bush/Cheney are not too guilty of as much , but the 28 Dems Senators still made a sound value judgement that a case was made on the evidence. We now know the former occurred.

    What I can suggest is a Dems POTUS at the time would have received truthful Intell & not grossly corrupted & falsified it , and if the POTUS was Pres Kerry , or Pres Clinton or Pres Edwards or Pres Biden , no Iraq war would have occurred and that is the test

  33. SimonH @ 1968
    “VPs frequently come from off the radar”

    Do you mean like Dan Quayle? I think he was from off the planet wasn’t he?

  34. KR @ 1956,
    cheers.
    I have feeling that Novak will be hanging up his pompous, grumpy little boots around January of next year. The only reason i can think of that such a nasty little partisan hack like him remains on the Washington Post payroll is because he has excellent contacts amongs neocons. As for O’Reilly, I honestly believe the man has an undiagnosed personality disorder and is inches away from an almighty meltdown – I can only hope it hapens in front of a camera.
    Rupert Murdoch is the most poisonous export Australia has ever produced.

  35. KR @ 1978

    Thanks for that, Wow, i can never really work Freidman out though. An amazing article, the democrats, may have just done something truly amazing – lets hope the rest of the country does too.

  38. 1981 Ron

    I agree. The MSM is in no position to criticize Hillary/Edwards etc. 70% of the broadsheets supported the Iraq War as they too fell for the spin of the Intel. Lots of it was classified so they couldn’t get their hands on it but there were plenty of dissenting voices who were not given a chance.

    I don’t blame Hillary for voting for the War. I do think she should have said something like:
    “I was lied to by the Government. I believed Colin Powell to be a credible and honest man. I was wrong. I apologise for believing anyone associated with the Bush/Cheney War machine. I won’t make that mistake again.”

  40. Disagree Diogenes. Federal Labor here had the sense to oppose the war. There’s no reason why the Dems in the US couldnt have as they now would be vindicated. Another problem is that Edwards came out and apologised whereas Hillary didnt

  42. Simon H, McCains problem is mixed messages. He supports Bush on some things eg. Iraq but not others. Criticising Bush might keep this a contest but will alienate the loony right. I dont think he’s going to cut through.

  44. Diogenes @ 1988 – [I don’t blame Hillary for voting for the War.]
    I’m not that forgiving. If we here knew that there was no evidence of the phantom weapons, via Hans Blix and others, and could see through the sequence of lies, it shouldn’t have been too hard for Clinton, Edwards and 26 others. It was just political fear of the 9/11 emotional climate that prevented them from voting the way they knew they should.

    It was clear to a large chunk of the population in Australia that there was absolutely no justification for declaring war on Iraq. We knew the ‘intelligence” reports were fabricated. Remember the ‘chemical weapons factory’ photographed from the air that was a truck? Hundreds of thousands marched against the war, including myself. There were many federal politicians at the march who also knew there was no justification for war. To say that US politicians can be excused for ‘believing’ transparent bullsh*t is to cut them much more slack than they deserve. They weren’t that naive, just political wimps.

  45. Andrew

    Certainly Hillary should have apologised as I said. Obviously I would have preferred her to have voted against the War in the first place but given the hysterical reaction of the US citizens to 9/11 and the lies spun by a supposedly decent Colin Powell, I can see why she voted for it.

    It was a lot easier for the ALP to oppose it given that Australia was not the target of 9/11 which seems to have disturbed the Americans psyche more than Pearl Harbour. More Americans died on 9/11 from smoking (which is more preventable) than terrorism but the US loves the histrionics of good and evil.

  46. Proof that Hillary & Co were voting on the mood rather than what was right is the admitted failure to even bother to read the intelligence reports.

  47. I think it is worth noting that although Obama was not in the U.S Senate in the lead up to the Iraq war, he was on record opposing it.

  48. From a speech delivered by the young Illinois State Senator, Barack Obama in October 2002.

    “What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

    What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income – to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.

    That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.”

  49. and just a little more……

    “I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

    I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.”

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