According to Kos, the likely delegate shift out of March 4th due to Texas and Ohio is... 0.

Clinton has claimed both as major victories and reasons to fight on.

Well, those reasons are gone.

Update x2: Hillary's campaign responded to this diary by lying about it.  See the bottom of the diary.

In case you needed yet another reason to despise Hillary Clinton and her vermin strategists, she's now running an ad blatantly lying about Obama's subcommittee.  Her ad includes debate footage heavily doctored to make Obama blacker.

I guess this is the "fun part."

This was all pointed out (and links provided, and so on) in a comment by converse, but I haven't seen it diaried yet, so I wrote this one.  (Update: jthomascronin apparently diaried this story yesterday, and seems to be the original person to point this out.)

In another comment, clonecone pointed out that Time got caught doing this a while back and posted this picture:

Here's Hillary's take on it:

Congrats, Troutnut, you hit the front page of Digg. Unfortunately, they linked to the version with comments, not the storyonly version. Comments disabled for now. -ct

This one's short and sweet.

Ben Smith at Politico reports on an Obama conference call just now, which includes a joking reference to Hillary's 3am ad everyone's talking about today:

I'm surprised I don't see any diaries about this yet (maybe I missed some earlier today) but Newsday has a remarkable story from Hillary's early days as a lawyer, when she defended a rapist by attacking the credibility of his 12-year-old victim.

John McCain said in his speech last night that terrorists in Pakistan are our ally.  He did not say it that directly, but there can be no other implication.  This is proves he's living in the Cold War era of foreign policy, where the main enemy is the Soviet Union and Donald Rumsfeld gets chummy with Saddam Hussein while the CIA sends weapons to Osama bin Laden.  

Is McCain planning to resume those care packages to al Qaeda?  He's starting to sound like it.

Here's what he said said:

Hillary's supporters have been increasing their accusations that Obama's speeches lack substance.  They say, in spite of his detailed plans, impressive Senate record, and clarity of judgment that he's an empty suit.  They seem to think it's a sign of shallowness that he's so inspiring, that he can communicate his vision for America so clearly that people actually don't get bored.  When he speaks of policy, he's inspiring.  When he paints a vision in clear, broad strokes, he's even more inspiring.

They say it must be too good to be true.  Anyone known for inspiring a people must be an empty suit. Perhaps they're right.  Just look at these vapid, feel-good platitudes, and see below for the empty suits who spoke them:

Early this January, an underdog headed to the icy Midwest and began an unlikely journey with an unexpected win.

A few short weeks later, with all other competitors eliminated, they would face off 1-on-1 against an undefeated dynasty.

Like many people here, until now I've kept most of my political activity behind the quasi-anonymity of the Internet.  It's comfortable.  And in 2004 I was satisfied with that.  I didn't want to get out and "bug" people in person about politics.  I thought that would be hard.  It isn't.  

Now I'm doing something.

I haven't become as dedicated a foot soldier as many on this site.  I'm a long-time spectator, inspired by Obama to really participate, if only a little.  When enough people do a little, they can bring a lot of change.  

If you are, like I was, watching this campaign from the sidelines, it's time to get involved. It's now or never.  The things America can do with Barack Obama at the helm are worth taking that plunge!

Here in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska -- 100 miles north of the high peaks of the Alaska Range, and a few short hours from the Arctic Circle -- it's 34 degrees below 0 tonight, and the only sun rising more than a little ways above the distant peak of Denali is this one:

But the cold and darkness aren't stopping Obama volunteers!

After reading o the umanity's diary Moved from Hillary to Edwards on the current rec list, I just had to stand up for the one true underdog.

You see, I have to--HAVE TO--say it one more time, loud and clear to those who continue to insist that Barack Obama and John Edwards are the only other choices there are besides Hillary Clinton, and that Mike Gravel should get out of the race...

Why? If you really care about "having more than three choices", make the jump with me now...

John Edwards is a distant second choice for me in this election.  I have some doubts about his authenticity, though.  My impression is that he's a good guy with some good goals, but that he's willing to do some shapeshifting and be a little dishonest to win.  I don't say "do anything to win" because it seems he doesn't stoop to dishonest attacks on his opponents, and I salute him for that, but I'd rather he not prop himself up in disingenuous ways either.  

The Page has the full text of Obama's new stump speech, which Halperin calls "the best-written speech of the campaign."  Obama wrote it himself, and it's beautifully written even by his high standards.  

Update: They've got the video online!

Here are a few of my favorite parts of the speech:

OK, this is going to be the most self-explanatory diary ever.

Hillary's attacks on Obama haven't been sticking, so this weekend she decided to ratchet up the dishonesty another notch.  From The Caucus (emphasis mine):

And after weeks of attacking Barack Obama over his health care plan, noting that it did not include a mandate that everyone obtain insurance, Mrs. Clinton knocked him in a new way. In a hushed tone, she mentioned some of the women and men she met in Iowa who did not have health insurance or were struggling financially, and said she did not want to leave any of them without health care.

"Who gets to choose who’s left out?" she said. "Who should I leave out? I don’t want to leave anybody out. I’m not running for president to put Band-aids on this problem. I’m running for president to solve it."

It's like campaign jeopardy: "Please state your lie in the form of a question."

Via a comment by poblano I found the latest on Hillary's opposition research on the NYTimes Caucus blog.  It's an email sent by Hillary's 59-year-old deputy campaign manager Bob Nash.  Here is the full text, with the original grammar and spelling:

If this is the kind of person the feared and mighty "Clinton machine" put in charge of smearing Obama, we are in for a landslide of hope & change come January 3rd!

(I should note the cat pic comes from a Flickr user who captioned, "Someone please lolcat this up...")

(Also, feel free to steal / hotlink this pic.)

I just noticed this story on CNN's political ticker:

(Clarification:  This is a quote of a CNN story, not a verbatim quote of Obama.  The story contains some Obama quotes.)

Quick notes to deter straw-men in the comments:  

1.  I'm NOT SAYING Ann Coulter's joke is okay, nor that it should go unanswered.  My point is that we should respond with brief derision and dismissal to marginalize Coulter, rather than with exaggerated wishy-washy claims of hurt feelings which boost her perceived importance.

2.  I'm talking about Ann Coulter's comments here, not the problem of bigotry at large.  I'm not saying people aren't hurt by the actions and words of bigots.  I'm saying the words of Ann Coulter shouldn't be taken seriously enough to hurt anyone.

This whole show of demanding phony apologies for stupid comments because of phony hurt feelings just makes everyone look bad, and it turns people grounded in down-to-earth common sense away from the political arena altogether.

I was disgusted today to see a PETA ad on the front page of DailyKos.

PETA is a tremendous embarrassment.  They are to the left what the KKK is to the right: idiotic, emotionally driven radicals with no science or rationality behind their cause.  Their ad will make any outdoorsman (the most influential environmentalist demographic) roll his eyes in disgust, and many will leave and never come back.

Rumsfeld has come up with a brilliant new solution to the Iraq problem: Rename it.

Highlights below.