Rather tha following HER lead.

I know that this is painful to her and to her supporters, but the task now is to beat John McCain. Anything that detracts from the process of getting the party together to beat John McCain is harmful to the party and ultimately to Clinton herself.

Covering a major news story–and this speech is major news story–does nt equal being an apperachick. Whether you agree with the Michigan decision or not, and meany do not, it is up to Hillary to decide whether to challenge it further, or not.

Do Hillary the courtesy of allowing her to decide. She’s got skin in the game.

Obama is a politician. A Dem politician. Labor is our base.

When he was running against Edwards and Edwards had albor sewn up, he was natuerally going to say bad things about labor. Now, he needs to make amends with labor and get ready for the general election.

For those who see Obama as a prgamatic politican rather than a latter day messiah, what he is doing makes perfect sense. it’s the professional thing to do.

He’s not the second coming of Christ, he’s a professional politician, doing what he is supposed to do.

See ya upstairs.

FunnyD

MORT KONDRACKE: Well, John McCain had better start working on his speechmaking and learn how to use a teleprompter. I mean, the gap, the rhetorical gap between this speech and…Oratorical gap between this speech and John McCain’s was vast. John McCain sounded old. This sounded fresh and new and exciting and visionary. And he was enlisting the country to join him in a great cause. This is our moment, all of that.

the paste eaters weigh in -

McCain’s Speech [Amy Holmes/NRO]

McCain’s speech was creaky, ungracious, and unnecessary. I never understand why politicians don’t take the opportunity, when so easily presented, to simply be gracious and hold their fire. Watching McCain, I couldn’t help but think of the astonishing contrast Barack’s triumphant speech to a massive and adoring crowd will be. It was not a comparison McCain should have invited.

It would have been more statesmanlike ‹ precisely the profile McCain is attempting to craft ‹ to acknowledge this historic moment in American politics. A major party is on the cusp of selecting an African American to be their nominee for President of the United States. It’s a tribute to America that we’ve come this far. It would have been magnanimous to leave it at that, and wait until tomorrow to declare with enthusiasm and relish, “It’s on!

can’t . . .stop. . .giggling

This is not to distract from McCain’s address; that too was poorly reviewed. The most biting of the criticisms came from CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin, who intoned, moments after its conclusion: “That was awful! That was pathetic!”

Josh Marshall, over at TPM, noted: “Here’s how bad it is. All the Fox commentators are giving competing explanation for why McCain’s speech sucked.”

But if you think this was strictly a liberal prerogative, here is a sampling of the Republican response to McCain’s general election launch.

Here’s Mark Levin over at National Review’s The Corner: “Not to offend those who might be offended, but this speech is a mash and tough to digest. You have to get through the self-congratulatory praise of independence and commander-in-chief pose from the Senate, then you have to try to follow the inconsistency of some of his big-government ideas vs. his anti-big-government rhetoric, and his inconsistency even on his supposed strength — the surge in Iraq vs. closing GITMO and conferring additional rights on the detainees.”

Summing up GOP sentiment was prominent Republican media consultant, Alex Castellanos, speaking on CNN: “Last I checked this was not a speech-making contest, thank God.”