I just read this diary, in which a Kossack screams "HOW DARE YOU!!!" (yes, with caps and three exclamation points) at anyone who has had anything negative to say about Tim Russert today.

I must admit, I'm mystified.

I fired up my computer this morning to be confronted with the news that Clinton is STILL trying to poach superdelegates from Obama.  In spite of all the calls for her to drop out, in spite of all the marshaling of facts and figures, she will not concede.  I've felt for weeks now that she is very likely to take this fight all the way to the convention, and that feeling is growing stronger, not weaker, as time goes by.

Why are Clinton and her diehard supporters refusing to give up in the face of impossible odds?

With astonishing chutzpah, Hillary Clinton has compared the unfortunate but legitimate outcome of the flawed 2008 Florida primary to the chicanery of the stolen 2000 presidential election in that state:

"We believe the popular vote is the truest expression of your will. We believe it today just as we did back in 2000 when right here in Florida, you learned the hard way what happens when your votes aren’t counted and the candidate with the fewer votes is declared the winner," Clinton said.

"The lesson of 2000 here in Florida is crystal clear: if any votes aren’t counted, the will of the people isn’t realized and our democracy is diminished."

The Obama campaign needs to respond forcefully and urgently to McCain's attempt to link Obama to Hamas.  Here's what Obama surrogates should be saying tomorrow morning on all the chat shows:

Wikipedia has this to say about the Japanese martial art known as aikido:

Aikido techniques are normally performed by "blending" with the motion of the attacker, rather than directly opposing the attack. The aikidoist redirects the attacker's momentum, using minimum effort....

The term aiki refers to the martial arts principle or tactic of blending with an attacker's movements for the purpose of controlling their actions with minimal effort. One applies aiki by understanding the rhythm and intent of the attacker to find the optimal position and timing to apply a counter-technique. Historically, aiki was mastered for the purpose of killing; however, in aikido, one seeks to neutralise an aggressor without causing harm. The founder of aikido declared, "To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace."

Christopher Wills of the AP has written a pretty good summary of Barack Obama's major career experience.  (The dumb headline about his "thin record" is contradicted by the actual article.)  The idea that he's an "empty suit" who has very little track record relative to Hillary Clinton or John Edwards -- or that he hasn't demonstrated his progressive credentials and beliefs -- just doesn't stand up after you read this piece.

Until his retirement in March of this year, four-star general John Abizaid was commander of CENTCOM, responsible for U.S. military operations throughout the Middle East and south and central Asia (i.e., overseeing both the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, along with other operations). His successor, Admiral Fallon, is General Petraeus' commanding officer.

So when Abizaid said that the world could abide a nuclear-armed Iran, the conservative movement accepted his wisdom with good grace and due deference, right?

3 quick points:

1. I rarely watch the NewsHour on PBS, but I happened to turn on the TV the other night in time to catch David Brooks making his apalling comments.  Perhaps by virtue of his NY Times op-ed page slot, Brooks seems to be able to take these sorts of right-wing views, garb them in "centrist" respectability, and slip them into mainstream discourse.  What a snake.

That's what Newsbusters.org says.

As posted at Crooks and Liars:

ANDERSON COOPER: Bill, you call this exhibit hate speech. You said it's — quote — "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever."

What specifically offends you about it?

WILLIAM DONAHUE, PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: Well, of course, asking the public to come in and eat Jesus....

I just read this ludicrous piece complaining about Atrios delinking people.  Here's a particularly rich line:

He cuts all these links from his blogroll, damaging the traffic levels and rankings of those "lesser blogs"...

This sounds to me exactly like people who complain when their business or website goes down in Google's rankings, and they demand that Google put them back where they used to be.  Google owes them precisely NOTHING.  Google is providing an information service which is organized according to Google's criteria and no one else's.

This week, USA Today -- as they do with surprising frequency -- published a highly progressive op-ed piece.  This one, by Jonathan Turley, is titled The truth about oaths:

Judging from the outcry, one would think that Ellison wanted to use the January edition of Penthouse. America's permanently angry class of religious zealots has organized protests. Some have called for a law requiring that all members use the Bible - regardless of whether they believe a single word in it. They do not expect Ellison's conversion, they just want him (and presumably the two new Buddhist members) to pay tribute to their faith system.

President Bush has not addressed the controversy, even though it was started by one of his appointees - a rabid talk show host named Dennis Prager whom Bush appointed to the prestigious United States Holocaust Museum Board.

I just fired this off to the NY Times:

I was amazed to read Adam Nagourney's post-election analysis of the Democrats' strategy.  The article gives the impression that Rahm Emanuel was single-handedly responsible for the party's decision to openly and aggressively question President Bush's Iraq war policies.

In fact, Emanuel and others within the Democratic establishment mostly resisted this idea -- until Ned Lamont, running a campaign based on opposition to the Iraq war, soundly defeated Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut primary last August.

Haggard begins spiritual 'restoration':

The process includes counseling, in groups and alone, and prayer. Each restoration is unique, with a program tailored for the needs of the participant.

"From the Christian perspective, we think in terms of prayer, we think in terms of what we call godly counsel, where godly men who are clean themselves insert themselves in the life of the one who is struggling," London said.

No comment.

Bush Expresses Confidence in Hastert:

President Bush today professed shock, dismay and disgust over revelations that a disgraced former Republican congressman sent sexually explicit messages to teenaged boys who served as congressional pages, but he expressed confidence in House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in the face of calls for his resignation over the matter.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to a school named after him in Stockton, Calif., Bush said he was sure that Hastert "wants all the facts to come out" about the behavior of Mark Foley, 52, a Florida Republican who resigned his House seat Friday as the scandal was emerging.

This is another demonstration of why I'll never understand the Republican mindset.  It pretty much speaks for itself.

In general, 47% say the federal government should bear the most financial responsibility for areas affected by natural disaster, versus 23% who name local agencies, 19% who name individuals.

The breakdown is similar when Americans consider who primarily should pay to repair areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in particular, although in this case a slightly higher percentage say the federal government should step up: 50%.

Someone just pulled off a brilliant political prank:

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin each thanked the man -- identified as a federal housing representative -- who followed them to the lectern Monday to announce a major reversal in policy.

But the well-dressed, well-spoken man calling himself Rene Oswin, assistant deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, turned out to be an impostor who was part of a weeks-long hoax.

MoveOn has just kicked off a new campaign to write letters to the editor opposing the GOP's politics of terror.  Here's mine, just sent to half a dozen papers:

It is heartening to see Democrats stand up against the outrageous politicizing of terror by Dick Cheney, Joe Lieberman, and other Bush-friendly politicians.