One of the highlights of this whole miserable election was watching Just Say No Deal’s Diane Mantouvalos tell Chris Matthews that his sexism towards Hillary was one reason she started JSND (at 4:15). She left him stuttering:

By the way, there’s a blog tracking Chris Matthews’ leg, called Chris Matthews’ Leg. Their motto is: “If his lower extremities feel something, you’ll hear it here first.”

Chris Matthews’ Leg already has the inside scoop from election night:

Barack Obama’s victory speech overstimulated the sensitive neuro-receptors in Chris Matthews’ lower left extremity and caused it to hum like a tuning fork.

The Leg couldn’t help feeling it had played a small role in making this historic night possible.

Yes, Chris, MSNBC and pretty much the entire broadcast news industry traded the last bits of their journalistic credibility in the bacchanal of fawning coverage. Sure, Matthews’ and Olbermann’s Bush-Derangement and over-the-top Obama water-carrying during the election made them a national punchline.

But as the nation’s union bosses, trial lawyers, grievance mongers, Israel haters, and global warming hysterics uncorked the champagne and prepared their legislative agendas–The Leg could be heard to whisper:

“Totally, worth it, man . . . totally worth it.”

Here’s the original Chris Matthews’ confession:

In what could be an ominous sign for Barack Obama just days before he is formally named the Democratic presidential nominee, a new CNN poll of polls out Tuesday shows the Illinois senator’s lead over John McCain has been cut in half in recent days.

American voters are becoming increasingly worried about Obama’s complete lack of experience, according to CNN. Political ads released by the McCain campaign are pointing out the dangers of Obama’s inexperience. In spite of the hype generated by the Obama campaign, his incompetent and milquetoast response to the Russian invasion of Georgia highlights the danger that an Obama presidency would bring:

The latest poll results come amid increased attacks from McCain on Obama’s readiness to be commander-in-chief and the re-emergence of national security worries among voters in the wake of the Georgia crisis.

The CNN poll is only one among many that demonstrates Obama’s falling numbers. Other recent polls show that even though John McCain is considered a weak Republican candidate, Americans feel more confident about McCain’s leadership:

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll out Tuesday evening was the latest national survey to indicate Obama’s lead is dwindling, putting the Illinois senator ahead of McCain by only 2 points, well within the poll’s margin of error. The CNN Poll of polls also includes new surveys from Quinnipiac and Gallup.

While Obama is hoping that the Democratic Convention (which is already gaining the reputation of being “more party than politics”), will give him a big boost, some anti-Obama Dems are encouraged that McCain is considering a pro-choice VP. This comes as a relief for even some Obama supporters as the Democratic party is backtracking in its support of abortion rights. According to ABC News:

The Democratic Party is planning a convention designed to soften the edges on the party’s support for abortion rights, with a revamped platform and a speaking lineup that reinforces efforts to broaden Democrats’ appeal on the hot-button issue.

We are all now familiar with Backtrack Obama’s selling-out of key Democratic issues, including FISA, abortion rights, public financing, et al, and we have no doubt that Obama will go to any length to adapt his persona in the pursuit of power and fame. Obama is a product and his advertising campaign is funded by donations to the Democratic party. And the newest advertising hype in this sells campaign is that of Obama’s choice of a VP candidate. Why is this non-issue receiving so much media attention? According toABC, Obama’s campaign is using the VP announcement to distract attention from the Clintons, from PUMA, from The Denver Group, from JSND and from the many others who are protesting the hijacking of our party:

…a late-in-the-week rollout {of the VP} would have another benefit…It could help overshadow the other dominant story heading into Denver, which is the long-running drama over how Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, and Clinton’s supporters will handle themselves during the week.

Let’s not let them down! GO PUMA!!!!

I like the title of the video: “Clinton’s fire inextinguishable.”

I’m going to poke around MSNBC and see if there’s a print story to go with this video. But I thought I’d rush this up so you can all see it (since, ahem, most of us don’t watch MSNBC much these days).

All of Colorado is preparing itself for the Democratic National Convention. Denver is already filling up with anxious participants.  The Secret Service is said to be camped out on downtown rooftops.

Some Hillary supporters are arriving in hopes of seeing her name on the ballot, in one form or another. Other people, including the Just Say No Deal/Pumas, and other former Hillary supporters, are coming to protest the corruption we all witnessed at the top of the Democratic Party. Tensions are running high, and groups opposing the takeover of the Party are gearing up to make our voices heard, especially PUMAPAC and The Denver Group. 

Of course, supporters of the presumptuous nominee are arriving with their “Denver or Bust” bumper stickers. And there’s a report today in the Denver Post that tickets to the coronation are being sold for over three grand. 

As registration for free tickets available to see Sen. Barack Obama at Invesco Field at Mile High ends today, a pair of tickets are going for $3,650 at an online ticket-auction site, reports Chuck Plunkett.”There are another four days to go on the auction, and I expect to see people bid it up at the end,” Eric Baker, chief executive of the auction site, Viagogo, said Monday.

“It’s hard to imagine a political candidate generating that sort of excitement,” Baker said. “Never would it have occurred to me that a political speech would have a secondary market.”      

But Focus on the Family, the evangelical group based in Colorado Springs, is hoping to disrupt the Reichsparteitag at Invesco Field with the help of a “higher power.” The Denver Channel describes the video::

Focus on the Family Action has pulled a video from its Web site that had asked people to pray for “rain of biblical proportions” during Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco Field on Aug. 28.      

While the video has been pulled from their website due to protests it’s available on YouTube, and below, for your viewing pleasure. Politics does indeed make for strange bedfellows. Let it rain!  

In particular, I am referring to an article I saw today, “Obama, Clinton Stressing Unity,” by Tom Raum. It’s an AP article, and they are not very good at sharing, but here is a similar one at Fox (I know - ewww - but I was looking for something else I had heard was on there, and here the piece was). To sum it up, Obama essentially says that the Convention will not have tension between the camps, and that things have been “seamless.” SEAMLESS. You know, all of us Hillary supporters have decided that Obama is just A-OKAY, and we’re just pleased as punch to throw our unqualified support behind The Chosen One. SEAMLESSLY! HAHAHA.

Um, yeah, NO. Don’t know quite where you got that idea, Obama, but it is only because YOU ARE NOT LISTENING!!!! Ahem. I know - he’s not going to hear me even if I do yell at him. He hasn’t heard us thus far, neither has the DNC, despite our numerous, frequent, unqualified statements to the contrary. You know that I Own My Vote has been conducting a Platform Survey, to which over 3,000 people have responded (yay, TEAM!!!), and it makes our opinions pretty darn clear. But he’s not listening. The DNC is not listening. They really do seem to have forgotten the MEANING of the word, “Democratic”: relating to, appealing to, or available to the broad masses of the people, and favoring social equality.

Huh. I guess they DON’T know the definition, because they are missing the mark. The people have been speaking out, crying out, for a leader who will do just that - work for all of us, who listens to us, and who will work to bring up the lives of all of our citizens. We know who that is. At the very least, we want a party that actually cares what we have to say, that actually WANTS our input, that wants to know what issues are critically important to us, to our lives. At this point, we seem to have none, at least not a mainstream party anyway…

So here we are - the PUMAs, members of Just Say No Deal, and hundreds of other pro-Hillary, Pro-DEMOCRACY sites, yelling our hearts out trying to get someone to listen to us. Obama won’t, especially while he is on his Hawaiian getaway (you know the one - Hawaii - the alleged place of his birth. How CONVENIENT, as the Church Lady used to say, that he chose to go THERE, the place of the forged birth certificate!! Very interesting…). Yep - Obama is more than happy to go on a 10 hr flight or whatever it is to Hawaii, but he won’t make the couple hour flight to New Orleans to participate in a townhall there. This is the SECOND time he has declined actually going to New Orleans. (What’s that you say, Jesse Jackson, Jr., about politicians and Katrina?? Yeah - that’s what I thought - crickets.) The DNC isn’t listening, either - they have turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to us for months and months now. But we need to keep speaking out - for ourselves, for Hillary Clinton and for all that she stands for, and because it is the right thing to do. We need to keep speaking up so that those who have the ability to stand up for her KNOW they are not alone. We have their backs. And we will continue to do so.

“I asked Barack Obama what he wanted for his birthday. He said, ‘Indiana, Colorado and Virginia,’ ” said Kerry, referring to three potential swing states Obama hopes to win in the Nov. 4 election.

Wow - that’s all he wants? And what is a possible way, at least in their minds, that this might happen?? Well, if they chose EVAN Bayh as Obama’s running mate, they think that might just get them Indiana. You remember Evan Bayh - the big HILLARY supporter. Yes, there is a big ol’ meeting tonight in Indiana, one SO important that Evan Bayh canceled a BASEBALL game - a game that was supposed to be played last night. Whatever. Anywho - my question is: why would we (PUMAs and those who Just Say No Deal be any more swayed by Obama picking someone who was staunchly in Hillary’s camp? It’s not like we, or should I say, I, will go, “Well, heckfire - if BAYH is okay with Obama, then I guess I should be, too.” Nope. For me, it is more like, “Wow, Evan - what a turncoat!! I cannot believe you are so buddy-buddy with Obama! So much for loyalty! How COULD you??” Or something along those lines.

Anyway, there is supposed to be a big To-Do in Indiana tonight, and there is MUCH speculation that this is going to be the big day for Bayh. Even though His Royal Highness will be taking off for Hawaii in a couple of days for vacation. And Hillary will be stumping for him (do NOT even get me started on that, except to say, ARGH!). So could this be Bayh’s big day? Maybe. And next, would Obama then get his birthday wish of Colorado, Indiana, and Virgina? Well, our good buddy, GeekLove, has prepared a map of what it would look like if Obama does get his wish. With her permission, here it is:

For an added bonus, and comparison, here is the latest AOL Poll Map (also courtesy of GeekLove):

I hasten to add, I am not endorsing McCain. BUT - unless the Super Delegates get it together, it ain’t looking so good for the DNC’s handpicked selection. GeekLove’s map might be more truth than creativity. Just sayin’.

OKAY, people - IF you have NOT done the PLATFORM SURVEY for I OWN MY VOTE, please, please go do it. The survey only takes FIVE minutes, and it includes a handy Comment section - you know you have something to say about the upcoming nomination and election. Now’s your chance!!

And thanks to memeorandum.com for the WSJ article linked above!

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NoQuarterUSA Action Of The Day: We ask that you take part in the I Own My Vote Virtual Platform Committee Meeting now! It takes five minutes. Click here to start. If you have not yet signed the pledge, click here to do so.

Diane Mantouvalos sent this clip through the JSND network this afternoon of Gary Mauro, former head of Hillary’s campaign in Texas. He’s saying it’s not over until he gets a chance to vote for Hillary for nomination. This just proves how viral the movement is. We had no idea this was coming. As far as I know, Mauro did this without any prompting from us.

I received this earlier yesterday, but couldn’t post the format it was in. I just noticed that The Confluence got a YouTube copy, so here it is!

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NoQuarterUSA Action Of The Day: We ask that you take part in the I Own My Vote Virtual Platform Committee Meeting now! It takes five minutes. Click here to start. If you have not yet signed the pledge, click here to do so.

Don’t miss our fired-up, feisty HireHeels Editor for JustSayNoDeal on a Columbus, Ohio AM radio station today.

REMINDER: See the morning post, “ACTION! Contact These Superdelegates,” for today’s coordinated action by JustSayNoDeal.com. There’s power in numbers, so let’s all commit to do this by 5 p.m. ET today!

What else is going on in the world?

Imagine if a bunch of disgruntled Mitt Romney supporters were currently stalking John McCain or Republican events loudly demanding that their candidate be nominated. Think the national press would be featuring it bigtime as an example of Republican party disunity? Well, the same thing is happening except the people are disgruntled Democrats expressing their opposition of Barack Obama while loudly continuing to support Hillary Clinton. … PUMA activities seem to be surging lately. …

JustSayNoDeal.com reports more coverage today, including a dynamite LTE, “Party leadership, Obama rejected by these Dems” published in today’s Indianapolis Star newspaper and an original article published at Raw Story, “Hillary supporters, still angry, frustrate attempts at party unity. The Raw Story report features the highly successful protest by PUMA members during Howard Dean’s speech in Charlotte, North Carolina:First, the IndyStar LTE which concisely sums up essential concerns about Barack Obama’s candidacy:

Party leadership, Obama rejected by these DemsWe know very little about Barack Obama, but we do know he is unwilling to take a firm stance on issues.He said he would accept public financing for the general election, and later rejected it.He voted in favor of the government’s eavesdropping program and legal immunity for telecommunications companies after promising his supporters he would reject it.He advocates both an individual’s right to own a gun and the government’s right to regulate ownership.He assured America he would negotiate a better deal with NAFTA and then winked to the Canadian government that this was simply political posturing.He assured his supporters he would pull all American troops out of Iraq immediately. Now he calls this impossible.The list is endless.I am a member of PUMA PAC (People United Means Action), a group of citizens who favored Hillary Clinton and are motivated by belief that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has abrogated its responsibility to represent the interests of all Democrats in all 50 states. I and thousands of other PUMA members will not vote for Obama, the DNC’s selected, not elected, nominee.Dylan AsdalePUMA PAC DemocratAvon

Here’s a quote from the section of the Raw Story report about that dramatic Charlotte, N.C. protest:

Protesters brought their anger over the supposed mistreatment of Hillary Clinton by the Democratic Party to a Howard Dean appearance in Charlotte Friday, some carrying signs that read “Dump Dean.”Two dozen of the New York Senator’s supporters shouted down the Democratic National Committee Chairman with a chorus of, “I own my vote!” the Charlotte Observer reported.The protest was sparked by a rumor that Clinton’s name would not be put in for nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver next month.The supporters were loud enough that Dean was forced to stop his speech to the 150 people who showed up for the voting rally and address the demonstrators. …

Read all of the Raw Story report, which also covers PUMA members’ statements and strategies in Texas and elsewhere.

Update: The video above is a “REVISED” version. For the 1st version, Click Here. Again, for the 1st version, the text at the beginning of the video which may appear “smeared” is pasted onto the video so that it is easier to read. If it is too quick, press the handy “pause” button.

Please donate to the Denver Group.

“Senator Clinton’s name on the ballot is not good enough. Her name must be placed in nomination for it to have any meaning so that super delegates have a real choice in deciding the nomination by casting their votes for either candidate. Nothing less is acceptable.”

Click my Act Blue page below to make monetary contributions for the Denver Group:

http://www.actblue.com/page/geeklove

From my blog, “Come A Long Way.”