Unkillable

Journalist Evan Thomas reports that some of Senator Clinton's "top staffers have laughed at the comparison between Hillary Clinton and the Hollywood movie monster Freddy Krueger: you can run over her, stab her, shoot her-and she still keeps coming."

Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report added this: "She's not inevitable, she's unkillable. You can chop off her head and she'll keep crawling toward you."

Spooky stuff.

Do-Over

It is becoming obvious that both Obama and Hillary will be badly damaged by the time the general election rolls around. (Damaged mostly by other Democrats).

It is time for John Edwards or Al Gore to parachute in and save the Democrats from themselves (and maybe bring Jim Webb with them). Chris Dodd and Joe Biden were missed opportunities. Dennis Kucinich is looking better all the time.

I think the Dems need a do-over in Michigan and Florida AND all the other states that have already voted.

Answering The Phone

If I have my history correct, the “red phone” or “hot line” in the White House was established after the Cuban Missile Crisis to provide a connection between Washington and the Kremlin in Moscow as a way for these two Cold War adversaries to talk to one another in a time of imminent crisis.

Hillary Clinton, in her “3 a.m. phone call” ad, has posed the question: Who would be better suited- her or a President Obama- to answer the phone during an international crisis?

For starters, the obvious answer should be: the person who is cool under pressure, steady, and calm, not reactionary, hysterical, or unpredictable.

But another factor in who of the two of them would be better to have answering the phone has come from the candidates themselves: Hillary has said she would not talk to adversaries without preconditions and layers of protocol.

Obama, on the other hand, has often said he would never be afraid or hesitant to talk with our enemies.

To me, it is far more plausible that Barack Obama could handle that 3 a.m. phone call in a strong, professional, presidential way worthy of a commander-in-chief.

Third Party

It seems to me that there are many people supporting Sen. Obama that would actually like him more if he were running outside the Democratic Party. He has obviously found a large number of supporters who aren't currently Democrats or Republicans. He seems to do well with voters who in the past have been disenfranchised or otherwise feel that neither of the two major parties speaks to them. He wins in states like Virginia that don't usually vote for democrats but are open to candidates like Jim Webb and Tim Kaine, who won in Virginia precisely because they didn't run as Clinton-style Democrats.

Obama as a third party candidate would attract minorities, students, thinking people, academics, young professionals, and so on that are discouraged by both Republicans and Democrats. If congressional approval ratings are any indication, over 80% of Americans are frustrated with both parties.

And if Ohio is any indication, it appears that a substantial number of Democrats continue to embrace the politics of old, the message of fear, and fairly shallow understanding of the candidates and issues. (Not exactly a group of people I’m excited to be a part of.) Which is why many of the very same voters went with Bush last time around. I cannot imagine that Hillary's "base" (poor, uneducated, "down-scale"voters) voted for John Kerry. In fact they may not even vote for Hillary in a general election once they hear McCain's 3 a.m. phone call ad.

Senator Obama is creating a movement unlike anything this country has seen in years. The odd thing is, he is trying to do it within the cynical confines of the two-party system. This country is desperate for something new. Senator Obama speaks of things like rejecting the influence of lobbyists and big corporations. He rejects dirty politics. He rejects so many of the things that neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party really reject. Just listen to Terry McAuliffe and Ed Rendell and Bill Clinton these days. Hardly sounds like they are interested in any movement toward real change.

Barack Obama can fight against the Democratic Party establishment and try in vain to change it or he could start a real movement -and party- that belong to him and his passionate supporters.

Petiton

PETITION:

We, the undersigned, hereby denounce and reject any statement or insinuation comparing Hillary Rodham Clinton to monsters.

Count Orlok
Godzilla
King Kong
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Frankenstein’s monster
Nessie
Beelzebub
Nosferatu
Fraternal Order of Ogres
Vampire Society
National Werewolf Association
Swiftboat Mummies for Truth
Goblins and Ghouls of America
Boogeymen Anonymous
United Banshees
Gorgons First!
International Brotherhood of Zombies