One of my favorite Seattle radio stations, 96.5 Jack FM, had a great line: "Tell your mom the three little words she has been waiting to hear all these years - I'm moving out..."

Mother's Day has, of course, become a multi-billion dollar holiday, complete with flowers, chocolates, cards, etc. But that was not how it started. Originally, Mother's Day was a profound statement against war.

It was back in the 19th century that Julia Ward Howe started Mother's day, with the goal of stopping warfare. She wrote a powerful Mother's Day Proclamation, which is just as relevant today as it was in her own day.

If only the world had listened to her!

This is just a quick diary to point out that Spitzer’s resignation, which seems increasingly more likely, would result in the loss of one superdelegate for Hillary. Spitzer is, of course, a superdelegate who has endorsed Hillary and would vote for her in Denver.

Under New York law, Lt. Gov. David Paterson would take his place. Paterson is also a superdelegate who has endorsed Hillary. However, under New York law, Paterson’s position would be filled by the president of the state senate, Joseph Bruno, who is a Republican. Bruno would not be allowed to vote in Denver – and he certainly wouldn’t vote for Hillary if he were given the chance.

So Spitzer’s resignation would mean one fewer superdelegate for Clinton. Of course, there is also the guilt by association, which is unfair, but inescapable in the political landscape. The Spitzer case cannot but be damaging for Clinton. But whatever the public relations harm, when the dust settles, Spitzer’s imminent departure will favor Obama mathematically.

Spitzer Spoils Clinton’s Delegate Count

(Snark)

In the last few weeks, both the Hillary campaign and the corporate media have gone after Barack Obama with a vengeance. No smear has been too small to hype. So what have we learned from all of this? Let’s take a look.

The Lapel Pin: We have learned that our Constitution demands that presidential candidates wear American flag lapel pins at all times. The failure to do so is punishable by negative media coverage. As teenagers might put it, not wearing the lapel pin is, like, social suicide. In fact, we see that even the Bible tells us that we must wear an American flag lapel pin. Leviticus 40:2 reads: "He who does not wear the lapel pin has committed an abomination, and shall be stoned to death."

Muslim: Being called a Muslim is now an insult. It used to be that at least some Muslims were considered decent human beings. But in recent weeks, it has become clear that all Muslims are evil. If anyone calls you a Muslim, they have deeply insulted you. Kids on the playground are no longer saying: "That’s gay!" They are now saying, "That’s Muslim!"

Everyone’s doing their postmortems right now, so let me weigh in too. Clinton won a big PR battle last night. But beyond that, she pretty much went down in flames. Something about sound and fury signifying nothing comes to mind.

Let’s forget the hype for a moment, and remember where things stood two weeks ago.

If you are like me, it can be a bit hard to pay attention to non-primary news at the moment. But the following tidbit broke through my primary blinders as I was listening to Rachel Maddow this afternoon.

We have all heard the story that United Technologies has launched a hostile takeover attempt to acquire Diebold. We all know that Diebold is the Big Bad Wolf of electoral shenanigans. We all remember Diebold chief executive Walden O’Dell’s 2004 letter promising to deliver Ohio’s electoral votes to Bush.

But what some of us may have missed is that United Technologies is a client of the highly influential lobbying firm BKSH. Who works for BKSH? Charlie Black. Who is Charlie Black? An aide to John McCain.

Can you connect the dots here, folks?

Punxsutawney Phil, the mighty groundhog, the Seer of Seers, the Prognosticator of Prognosticators, emerged from his place of repose on Gobbler’s Knob today to issue a press release addressed to the Clinton campaign. His message said:

Hillary Clinton lost tonight’s debate for a number of reasons. She looked tense and angry; in fact, several times, she seemed ready to sock Obama in the jaw. Instead of merely stating her position on the issues, she went after Obama in a petty and vindictive manner. Her quibble about "reject" vs "denounce" backfired on her almost as badly as her infamous Xerox comment.

Obama, on the other hand, acted calmly, spoke thoughtfully, and proved to be completely unflappable, no matter what kind of ridiculous smears Clinton or the moderators tried to throw at him. But his best moment was in his closing statement, which was in response to the question:

When the New York Times published a story about John McCain’s possible inappropriate interactions with lobbyist Vicki Iseman, including a possible romantic relationship, the conservative standard-bearers of our nation suddenly rallied around McCain, even though they had before made their dislike of him all too clear. But what would have happened if John McCain were a Democrat? How would the conservative establishment have reacted to these allegations in that case, especially to the suggestion of an adulterous affair with a lobbyists? Let’s explore.

As many have pointed out, Clinton got off to a good start in Thursday night’s Democratic debate; for nearly an hour, she held her own against Obama. Then, however, came a string of negative comments directed at her rival, including the already infamous Xerox line, all of which made her seem petty, vindictive, and pompous. Suddenly, Clinton had all the grace of a five-year-old throwing a hissy fit.

But in my mind, the worst part of her performance was, by far, her final statement – the statement now being lavishly praised even by Obama supporters, and which is being trumpeted by several pundits as the reason Clinton won the debate. For me, Hillary’s closing statement was the height of political cynicism.

After a string of stinging losses to her rival Senator Barack Obama, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled her final answer to all of her critics in the form of a wholly new, wholly original campaign platform.

Dear Hillary,

I have learned to stop worrying and have really come to love you. Yes, you. I couldn’t write this on Valentine’s Day (because I was off at 5th grade science camp), but now that I am back, please consider this a belated Valentine.

After almost eight years of Republican rule, you are exactly what I have needed. Why? Let me count the ways!

On Super Tuesday, Obama won the most states and the most delegates. Since Super Tuesday, he has won eight different contests, in very different parts of the country, with some truly impressive margins.

In his speech on Potomac night, Obama did not mention Clinton by name. Instead, he focused on differentiating himself from the likely Republican nominee, John McCain. Obama was looking toward November, not next Tuesday, or March 4. He was already acting as the nominee of the party, without however seeming presumptuous.

I can’t stand Huckabee. I don’t want to see him within 10 feet of the White House, not even as a chaperone on an 8th grade social studies trip. But I very much want to see him make life hellish for John McCain for the next few months.

After Super Tuesday, McCain emerged as the undisputed Republican frontrunner, with an easy stroll to the nomination. Mitt Romney’s decision to drop out the very next day only confirmed the corporate media narrative of McCain’s inevitability. The only thing left to decide was what to wear to his coronation.

McCain’s early victory in the GOP field was not good news for the Democrats. McCain would now be able to focus on consolidating the Republican base and preparing for November. He would have time to define the issues, define the race, define the Democrats as a whole, while Clinton and Obama would be spending vast amounts of money, time, and energy going head-to-head to eke out delegates from the remaining states.

But there was trouble in paradise for Mr. McCain.

18,000 people crowded into the Key Arena on February 8, 2008, to see Barack Obama, the day before the Washington caucuses. About 3000 more had to be turned away, due to lack of space. Much of the audience was in their twenties or teens. Designer clothes, ipods, iphones, cell phones of every sort, continuous text messaging... Lots of students must have been allowed to skip school to see Barack.

I have had enough of all the threats to vote third party or even Republican if so-and-so’s candidate does not win, or if such-and-such candidate doesn’t start doing or saying things differently.

First of all, let’s remember the purpose of Daily Kos. The stated purpose of Daily Kos is to elect Democrats. Thus, any comment or diary that threatens or pledges to thwart the election of Democrats by voting for a non-Democrat is ispo facto off topic and should be hidden or deleted. To be honest, I am surprised that the site editors do not take these steps.

Secondly, lets look at what is at stake in this election:

My heart has been with Edwards, but I never really supported him, because I was sure that his decision on public financing would leave him broke for much of the general election. When I felt that I had to give up on Edwards, I moved to Obama briefly, but after New Hampshire, I started to hesitate.

Europeans famously get 4-6 weeks of paid vacation every year, plus paid national holidays. We get twelve paid national holidays. But are they the right days? Should we have differetn holidays, or additional ones? As a parent, I feel that it would make more sense to have holidays on some other days as well. So below are some of my suggestions in the poll (some of which are serious!). Please add yours in the comments section.

Fox News was created back in the 90’s in large measure to sabotage the Presidency of Bill Clinton. Since then, Fox News has tirelessly labored against the Clintons, throwing the worst kind of invective at them year after year. Regrettably, the relentless right-wing framing has worked all too well.

In the last few weeks, I have observed the following behavior toward Hillary Clinton: