Happy Monday!

Clinton confident...

NFL optimistic...

…and there's heartwarming news from hither and yon.

Feel better now?

If it's not one thing...

DougJ…

When it’s not “who would you rather have a beer with” it’s “quien es mas macho”.

As usual, Gilda was right...

Shut up, he explained.

A reality-based explanation of reality from The Democratic Strategist...

Magellan Strategies polled over 1000 likely 2012 Democratic presidential primary voters, and didn't find much in the way of an uprising, at least as measured by hypothetical primary matchups. You may recall that Hillary Clinton won NH in 2008. She's not about to challenge Obama in 2012, but according to Magellan, if she did, she'd be trailing 59-28. There's been talk of Howard Dean taking on the president; he trails Obama in the poll 78-10. How's about Bernie Sanders, who filibustered the tax deal that upset progressive elites so badly? He'd be in even worse shape in NH, down 79-8 to the president.

Clear? Crystal.

I get the frustration. Heck, I thought Ted Kennedy sounded like a pretty good idea in 1980. Making the same mistake twice, though, however well intentioned, has never made anything better.

Enough primary talk already.

Quote of the day.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on whether she would submit to a TSA hand job…

"Not if I could avoid it. No. I mean who would?"

The Secretary, of course, can avoid it, and keep flying.

We should all be so lucky.

Really, we should.

Stuff I learned on the internet.

The top five authors of political books during the last decade have been prominent Democrats (Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Al Franken and Hilary Clinton, respectively).

I didn't know that until I read this.

Conspiracy theory of the day.

Melissa McEwan on Secretary of State Clinton's "broken elbow" (slightly bowdlerized as is my wont)...

The fall is just a cover story. It's really a repetitive strain injury sustained from four decades of nudging dudez in the ribs to get sh*t done or get the hell out of her way. Feminist elbow.

Heh™.

And get wells to the Secretary from here, too.

From the "Me neither" file.

Secretary Clinton on Dick Cheney...

"I don't consider him a particularly reliable source of information."

Nor I.

My own personal Congressman…

…answers The Big Question…

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.): There is no American more capable or better able to serve our nation as Secretary of State than Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and I enthusiastically applaud the news that she has accepted an invitation to serve from President-elect Barack Obama...

So, is Jim considered "center-right" these days?

Well, yeah…

NBC's Mark Murray...

If Obama selects Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State, it would be an ironic pick -- given that Team Obama downplayed her foreign-policy credentials (especially as first lady) during the Democratic primary season.

I mean, that's one of the things I thought Obama was right about from the beginning.

Yep.

Senator Clinton...

“Barack Obama and Joe Biden are for you, and that’s why I’m for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”

Me too.

Shorter Hillary…

…by The Rude Pundit.

"Don't be stupid."

Yep.

"No way, no how, no McCain...

...Barack Obama is my candidate!"

All those gods bless her, too. And goddesses.

She's up, she's down…

…she's out, she's in.

Although Clinton had resisted pressure from donors, allies and supporters to accept demands to allow her name placed in nomination, she and aides to Obama seemed to realize independently that doing so would be the best way to incorporate and welcome Clinton's supporters into Obama's general election campaign, both symbolically and practically.

The resistance was, apparently, out of concern about how many of her 1896.5 elected delegates will, in fact, cast a Clinton vote for a roll call. I don't have any problem with her being nominated. When the '92 Clinton campaign tried to block Jerry Brown from nomination, declaring that he could not address the convention unless he withdrew his name and endorsed Bill before the balloting, I was among the delegates crowding the floor in protest. Our battle cry at the time was "Unity doesn't demand uniformity." In fact, the drive to achieve uniformity through unanimity in that contest was the most divisive element of the '92 convention. This will be better than that.

While the extended "will she, won't she" charade has been more irritating than amusing, now we know she will, and that's fine. I'm unconcerned, too, about the amount of time that will be devoted to all things Clintonian in the run-up to the ballot. I think there's sufficient political acumen between them for Bill and Hillary to understand that the only way to improve the damage done to the family brand during the primaries is to demonstrate uncompromising zeal for the nominee and a Democratic victory while on the conventions stage.

On with the show.

Never mind.

Predictably, the Obama campaign has moved to avoid a meaningless credentials fight over delegates from Florida and Michigan, proposing to seat them with full voting rights. Since Hillary has announced that she won't be nominated on the floor in Denver, restoring the delegations without contest has absolutely no consequence in terms of the nomination.

There's some rumbling about the implications of this move on the future of the nominating calendar and process. I wouldn't place too much stake in those prospects. While I support seating the delegations at full strength now, it's not because I think they were right then. It's because it just doesn't matter anymore and we're a big tent party. It's time to get over it - until next time, anyway.

As far as next time goes, there will continue to be internal tussles about rules and calendars, caucuses and primaries. I wouldn't count on wholesale changes coming out of this convention, though. After all, the process in question is the one that Obama won. The convention will be, in a sense, a celebration of that process. Obama loyalists will control the convention and its committees, and they're likely to be pretty satisfied with the way things turned out this time around.

Of course, at some point the delegates will, in some pro-forma bit of business, pass the ball to the National Committee for continuing refinement and supervision of the rules for 2012. Whatever's done in Denver, it won't be over. There will be plenty of opportunity for the intramural squabbling that our Party is renowned for, but the convention won't show much evidence of that. We're convening to celebrate Barack. We can fight later.

Good questions…

…from John Aravosis.

Will top Hillary surrogate Lanny Davis be using his perch atop FOX News to sabotage Obama's candidacy? And if so, will Hillary do anything about it?

Hillary has made a full, gracious and, I believe, sincere endorsement of Barack Obama, but that's clearly not enough for all of her followers. Davis is a professional Clintonian, and was one of Hillary's most ardent and most offensive adherents. He's demonstrably willing to throw the Democratic Party under the bus if he thinks it will help advance the Clinton cause. How responsible should she be for his activities going forward? Would a personal directive from the Clintons be enough to curb him?

I don't know, but I think just such a directive should be made, and if Davis' ensuing activities detract from the Democratic ticket, they should denounce him.

Reject, even...

Encouraging words...

…from Daniel Kirkdorffer, covering the Democratic State Convention in Spokane…

I should mention that there has been absolutely no disharmony between Clinton and Obama supporters. As far as I can tell this Convention is being attended by Democrats, and that's what matters most.

That's how it should be. Good to hear that's how it is.

OK, then…

…maybe it was worth it. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe…

I am proud to announce that our presidential campaign will be the first in a generation to deploy and maintain staff in every single state.

The network of volunteers and the infrastructure built up during the historic primary season — on behalf of all the Democratic campaigns — have given us an enormous and unprecedented opportunity in the general election.

Of course, Obama won't win 50 states, but the down-ballot impact of a truly national campaign has huge potential for Democratic hopes for Congress, Governors and legislatures. If that turns out to be the legacy of an extended nominating process Hillary could turn out to be the Democratic MVP after all.

Classy.

Via georgia10...

On the heels of Senator Clinton's excellent speech today, the Obama camp has set up a thank-you page where you can leave a comments of support for her.

I do wonder, though, when some concern will be shown for Obama supporters. Grace in victory is a key to the unity we desire and require. A little humility in defeat equally so. Hillary seems to be doing her best on that score. Hopefully her most ardent supporters will quickly follow suit and credit our nominee with a victory well and honestly earned.

Quote of the day.

Senator Clinton…

"The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion and our strength and do everything we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president."

Thanks, Senator. You made history. Now let's make some more together. We're all better off when we're all on the same side.

Me neither.

Hat tip to Pamela Leavey, who has sage counsel for these folks.