Liberal Democratic Politics, Discussion and Snark

David Kurtz at TPM is following the latest Rasmussen Poll:

Rasmussen is just out with its latest poll, showing Hillary’s lead in Pennsylvania is down to 5 points.

In the same poll a week ago, it was a 10-point spread.

Late Update: SurveyUSA also has new Pennsylvania poll out, showing Hillary with a still-healthy 12-point lead, although that, too, is down, from 19 points in the last poll.

Regardless of the breathless pundits, Hillary winning Pennsylvania is a foregone conclusion. As much of a hullabaloo as will be made, she’s not Rocky, and it’s not a comeback. What’s important is not whether she wins, but by how much. And by the looks of things, she’s getting closer and closer to the statistical margin of error (which is +/-4). Uh-oh!

Hillary Clinton needs to win landslide victories in all of the remaining primaries to even seem viable. Fortunately for Barack Obama, that appears to be slipping away. By the way, I can’t get enough of this headline: “Somebody forgot to tell Hillary Clinton the Democratic presidential race is over and Barack Obama won.” Priceless.

Darn that Hillary Clinton! It’s clear that based on this cherry-picked photo of her on washingtonpost.com that she is a very smug person and that she is refusing to drop out of the Democratic primaries to make things difficult and frustrating for people that hate her.

I’ve got to say, I’m not exactly a Hillary fan, but if she wants to play the Mike Huckabee role, I say go for it (by Mike Huckabee, I mean a Republican of course). Do it for the honor, the glory, and the punditry.

Senate Majority Leader Harry “Fightin’ Mormon” Reid says this will all be over with just a sprinkle of magical pixie dust and a few prayers:

“People should not lament what is going on,” Mr. Reid said. “This will be over long before the convention. Does it mean June 5 or two weeks from now? I don’t know, but this will all be just fine.”

Also, no one pay attention to the man behind the curtain. Move along now.

Not one to be relegated to irrelevancy, Ralph Nader has poked out his head and deigned to pen/blog a statement in support of Hillary (read: himself). Did anyone hear something that matters? It certainly isn’t this:

Senator Clinton:

Just read where Senator Patrick Leahy is calling on you to drop out of the Presidential race.

Believe me.

I know something about this.

Here’s my advice:

Don’t listen to people when they tell you not to run anymore.

That’s just political bigotry.

Listen to your own inner citizen First Amendment voice.

This is America.

Just like every other citizen, you have a right to run.

Whenever you like.

For as long as you like.

It’s up to you, Hillary.

Just tell them –

It’s democracy.

Get used to it.

Yours truly,

Ralph Nader

Note to Ralph: 2000 is on the phone, they’d like their Presidency back.

Note to Hillary: 2000 is on the phone with Ralph Nader, and 2008 is on the phone with Barack Obama so you’re going to have to wait in the lobby. Thanks.

According to Jake Tapper:

Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vermont, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a high-profile supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has called for Obama’s opponent to drop out of the race.

Jake Tapper is a very serious reporter, so clearly he’s on top of this incredibly momentous turn of events. Here’s what Senator Leahy had to say:

There is no way that Senator Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination. She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama. Now, obviously that’s a decision that only she can make frankly I feel that she would have a tremendous career in the Senate.

Tremendous. Let’s consult Merriam-Webster on this, shall we?

1: being such as may excite trembling or arouse dread, awe, or terror

2 a: notable by reason of extreme size, power, greatness, or excellence <tremendous problems> <a writer of tremendous talent> —often used as a generalized term of approval <had a tremendous time>

b: unusually large : huge <a tremendous number of people>

synonyms see monstrous. (THERE IT IS!)

To be fair, I’m guessing that Leahy was referring to either the ‘greatness’ or ‘excellence’ parts. Unfortunately for Hillary, the other 90% of the definition are all terms with which I’m sure she’d rather not be linked. (Example: Hillary arouses feelings of dread.)

So let’s all agree that not only should Hillary back out of this race because she can’t win, but that Samantha Power didn’t have to apologize.