HuffPo headline: Bernie Makes It a Race

He does have time on his side. This time in 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama had yet to engage black voters in his campaign against Clinton, with many expressing skepticism toward his candidacy. It was not until his victory in the Iowa caucuses in early 2008, when it appeared more likely that Obama could defeat Clinton for the nomination, that he was able to galvanize black voters.

Too bad HRC can't have Bill by her side while campaigning

But there are unique circumstances when you have a world famous spouse and where she needs to be seen to be running on her own record and abilities, not her husband's, and where Bill being the larger than life guy that he is, would distract attention from her. You would think, though, that when she returns from a grueling three day campaign trip, that she would want to have his support and company, and he would want to be there for her. It would be some quality, private, together time if they baby-sat their grand daughter together. One year old grandbaby tucked in bed by 8 p.m. latest, open a bottle of wine and decompress with a loving spouse after a grueling week? All marriages have their ups and downs, but there are times when it's all about spouses just being there.

Headline: Bill Clinton rocks out in the Hamptons while Hillary baby-sits

Bill Clinton partied with rock stars including Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi, John Mellencamp and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters in the Hamptons Friday night while wife Hillary Clinton sat home baby-sitting their granddaughter.

Spies told Page Six that Clinton was the first guest at an afterparty hosted by Jimmy Buffett at the Blue Parrot in East Hampton for the Bill Murray–Bruce Willis movie “Rock the Kasbah.”

“Clinton .?.?. held court at the bar,” said a spy. “He said he’d had to pick up Hillary coming back from a three-day campaign trip, but that she went home to baby-sit their granddaughter.”

Most recently, taking the reins on Charlotte’s care came after a three-day campaign trip. “My husband Marc and I were at a dinner for a friend who recently got a new job, and my dad was out with friends, so my mom babysat which was really nice,” Chelsea, 35, tells PEOPLE in an interview for the new issue on newsstands Friday.

At some point, Super Delegates will switch their allegiance to Saunders

I keep hearing how many Super Delegates have "pledged" to Hillary. Yeah, right! It may come as a shock to the Clinton camp, but a Super Delegate pledge does not constitute any kind of binding legal contract. Nor is it even a religious or morally binding promise like a marriage vow, i.e., I pledge thee my troth and will cling only unto thee, forsaking all others till death do us part. Here's the real deal, and it ain't good news for Hill.

Superdelegates have to consider how to use their votes carefully. They may:

Vote in step with how the voters in the majority of states voted
Vote in line with Democratic voters nationwide
Vote in favor of the candidate with the most pledged delegates, even if it is just a slim majority.

A superdelegate can also choose to vote his or her "conscience." This is one way of saying that a superdelegate may not vote the way the majority of voters do, but on the candidate he or she feels is best. "Superdelegates are supposed to vote their conscience and supposed to vote for [the] person they think would make the best candidate and the best president," Howard Wolfson of Hillary Clinton's campaign said in February 2008 [source: Miami Herald]. This is what California Congressman Dennis Cordoza did when he officially switched his pledge from Clinton to Obama the following May, citing her "contentious primary campaign" [source: The New York Times].

Cordoza illustrated another characteristic unique to superdelegates -- they're allowed to switch their pledges from one candidate to another. They can also pledge and switch long before the national convention. Most commonly, a superdelegate rescinds his or her pledge based on his or her constituency. In the 2008 primaries, Georgia Rep. David Scott changed his pledge from Sen. Hillary Clinton to Sen. Barack Obama. Around 80 percent of the Democratic voters in Scott's district voted for Obama, and Scott changed his pledge [source: Ohlemacher].

HRC's holy war in behalf of the Military Industrial Complex

Enough! with her commitment to enforcing American Exceptionalism on third world countries in the holy name of endless profiteering and endless bloodbaths. Let's elect a statesman, not a warrior.

Pa. Democrats elect Groen as state chairman; Burn officially resigns

Today’s outcome was never in doubt. After Mr. Burn announced his plans to resign, support quickly coalesced around Mr. Groen, who was backed by Mr. Wolf. Many party regulars believe the governor, as the state party’s standard bearer, deserves deference on selecting the party’s leadership.

But not everyone agrees, especially in rural areas, where some party leaders have complained of being neglected by the party’s urban centers. By all accounts, Mr. Burn has made nurturing relationships with party leaders a hallmark of his tenure.

“Jim built a grass-roots effort: He knew the county chairs and the caucus chairs, and the local people got to know who he was,” said Charles Vizzini, a state committeeman from Cambria County.

“I thought Jim Burn was doing a great job, and I’m not pleased to see him being forced out,” said Franklin County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Sherri Morgan on Friday.

Yet another HRC campaign move - faith based/values messaging - Hallelujah!

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/09/11/3700620/hillary-clinton-pulpit/
What Hillary Clinton’s Faith Means For Her Campaign

by Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons - Guest Contributor Sep 11, 2015 11:29am

Hillary in the pulpit may seem as likely a sight to see as Mike Huckabee officiating a same-sex wedding. Democrats understand religion and politics at around the same level as Republicans get climate science.

But this Sunday, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton will share the pulpit at the D.C. church they actively attended during their time in the White House. The rare occurrence presents some opportunities for Hillary Clinton campaign to allow voters to see a genuine side of herself — as well as a chance for a Democratic candidate to meaningfully connect with people of faith.

There are good reasons for the Clinton campaign to do more religious outreach. Hillary has smart policy wonks who are mapping the “what” and seasoned political operatives who can map the “how” — but only through faith-based and values messaging can she communicate the “why” that’s been sorely lacking from her campaign.

1. Patrick Fiegenbaum · Portland, Oregon

I disagree with this: "Democrats understand religion and politics at around the same level as Republicans get climate science." Democratic people of faith don't look to politics to validate their religious beliefs. I don't need my Representative, my Senator, my Governor or my President to pander to me to understand that I want a society that values all its members, that prioritized feeding the hungry and housing the homeless above blasting people to bits halfway around the globe. I want government to spend more educating our citizens than it does arming them and sending them off to battle. I want a federal budget that preserves more wilderness areas and spends less propping up oil companies.

These policies are all rooted in my faith, but I don't need government officials and candidates framing policy proposals in faith terms for me to feel validated in my positions. Religion and politics certainly blend, but when one leans on the other for justification, it leads to theocratic pronouncements and a feeling of "Almighty God is on our side," which turns discussions and disagreements into holy wars. It's not a good way to conduct the nation's affairs, as can be seen in instances too numerous to recount here.

Erin Kathleen Grant · Newark Valley, New York
I don't understand how this can be seen as a good thing. Aren't we (liberals) for the separation of church and state? How many times have we trashed Republican candidates for using the pulpit to garner support from the religious population? Why do we complain when churches lend their support to candidtates (if they're Republican) and say that if they want to preach politics they should lose their tax exempt status? Why is it ok all of a sudden just because its Hillary? Hypocrisy is one of my hot buttons and this reeks of it.

At a Brooklyn Cemetary, A Place of Work and an Enduring Memorial

Rest in peace, Rosa Maria Feliciano - you died far too soon.

http://www.npr.org/2015/09/11/439241030/at-a-brooklyn-cemetery-a-place-of-work-and-an-enduring-memorial
Beginning of the link:
On Sept. 11, 2001, Isaac Feliciano dropped his wife off at the subway so she could get to her job at Marsh & McLennan, in the south tower of the World Trade Center. Then, he headed to work himself — at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, where he's worked for the past 21 years. When the plane struck the tower, even as far away as he was, Feliciano was still able to see the damage firsthand.

(Read the whole report at the link)
End of the report
"When I cross the bridge every morning, I see the city and it just doesn't look the same anymore. I just see that new tower there, but I can't see myself going there for no reason at all."

Whatever the name given to the site of the Sept. 11 attacks, there is just one name that matters to him — and just one site he wants to keep visiting.

"Her name is Rosa Maria Feliciano," he says. "She's buried here, so Green-Wood Cemetery is ground zero for me."

9/11 FB post from Joe Sestak

For those who don't know him, Sestak is a retired Navy 3 star Admiral and former U.S. Congressman who is running for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania.

Joe Sestak
3 hrs ·

Fourteen years ago today, I walked out of the Pentagon shortly before the plane hit. I returned to see the waste of human cruelty triumphed by the strength of human bravery.

We will never forget.

Guardian: 5 Ways for Hillary to Recapture Her Cool

(Headline)
Hillary Clinton
Can Hillary Clinton avoid the fate of Mitt Romney? Five ways to recapture her cool
(Subheadline)

Her email controversy and a perceived lack of the ‘personal touch’ look ready to derail yet another campaign – but we know how she can get it back on track

God, Hillary Clinton is a stuffy old suit, isn’t she? Everyone knows that. She’s out of touch, she lacks the “personal touch”, and she hasn’t got “the common touch” either.

Over the past few weeks it has become accepted wisdom among political commentators that Clinton is 2016’s Mitt Romney. She is distant and lacks a sense of humour. She’s stiff! She’s wooden and overly cautious!

Basically Clinton is like a real-life Pinocchio, trotting about on stage with rigid arms and legs, except she is voiced by a bad actor who can’t do jokes and is ill-advisedly flippant about email disclosure.

But it wasn’t always this way. Remember that phone picture where she was wearing sunglasses? She was cool then.

I don't think there are any core beliefs.

If you read her books, you know that her mother had a miserable childhood - basically was abandoned, and then married a man who was so controlling and abusive that if HRC came home with A's from school, he belittled her by belittling any school which gave her an A. Her father was physically abusive as well.

Some kids with abusive parents get in to trouble, others double down and try twice as hard to win parental approval, i.e, love. It's not what you DO(getting an A), it's the end results (parental approval) - we see this in people who will do anything, justify anything if it results in a win. Winning isn't the most important thing - it's the ONLY thing.

Some of you may have studied Maslow's research with rhesus monkeys - particularly the study where cloth covered wire cones with a false monkey face on top were equipped with nursing bottles w/ the nipple protruding from the middle of what would be the chest area.

Infant monkeys were removed from their mothers and paired with one of these "cloth mothers". Then Maslow introduced pain to the equation. The babies would receive electric shocks from the mothers, or short, sharp knives were placed around the nipple so that the babies would be cut when they tried to nurse. The results? The more pain the babies received from the faux mothers, the tighter the babies clung to the mothers. Their instincts were that parents were supposed to comfort and nurture them.

The findings from this experiment were used to demonstrate and explain why abused human children still clung to their abusive parents. In particular, it influenced enlightened judges/social workers from deciding whether or not to return children to abusive parents based on asking the child if they wanted to go home.

Is it so surprising that a child growing up placing satisfying his/her parental source of love above all else, no matter how much abuse or rejection, then stays in an abusive marriage? But he's/she's my husband/wife. He/she is supposed to love me. It must be my fault.


The following NYT excerpt was originally posted in the Hillary Clinton group:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/110713163

Revealing, and somewhat disturbing: Hillary Clinton Draws Scrappy Determination From a Tough, Combative Father
"As a little girl, if Hillary Rodham forgot to screw the cap back on the toothpaste, her father would toss the tube out the bathroom window. She’d scurry around in the snow-covered evergreen bushes outside their suburban Chicago home to find it and return inside to brush her teeth, reminded, once again, of one of Hugh E. Rodham’s many rules.

When she lagged behind in Miss Metzger’s fourth-grade math class, Mr. Rodham would wake his daughter at dawn to grill her on multiplication tables. When she brought home an A, he would sneer: 'You must go to a pretty easy school.'

Mrs. Clinton has made the struggles of her mother, Dorothy Rodham, a central part of her 2016 campaign’s message, and has repeatedly described Mrs. Rodham’s life story to crowds around the country. But her father, whom Mrs. Clinton rarely talks about publicly, exerted an equally powerful, if sometimes bruising, influence on the woman who wants to become the first female president.

The brusque son of an English immigrant and a coal miner’s daughter in Scranton, Pa., Mr. Rodham, for most of his life, harbored prejudices against blacks, Catholics and anyone else not like him. He hurled biting sarcasm at his wife and only daughter and spanked, at times excessively, his three children to keep them in line, according to interviews with friends and a review of documents, Mrs. Clinton’s writings and former President Bill Clinton’s memoir."

http://t.co/LxfS5ft51H via NYTimes