Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama claimed over and over during the primaries that they were strong leaders who could take America in a new direction. They also claimed that George W. Bush was the worst president in US history. Then, how come they have never been able to beat him in almost any legislative battles?

This week they surrendered again. This time it was about giving immunity to telecommunication companies who broke the law to placate the Bush administration. Nearly everyone involved admits they broke the law -- otherwise they wouldn't need immunity.

I didn't rob a bank, so I don't need immunity for robbery. Everyone should have their rights, and that definitely applies to the telecom companies and the Bush administration as well, so it should be very simple for them to go into a courthouse and show there was nothing wrong with what they did. Except they can't, and that's why desperately need immunity for the crimes they have committed.

This isn't about spying on terrorists. The FISA court gives out warrants like they're growing on trees. If they spied on terrorists, it's the easiest thing in the world to show. No, this is for breaking the law and spying on Americans without a court order. Do we know who they spied on? No, and now we never will. Why? The Democrats are going to give these companies -- and by extension the Bush administration -- immunity for breaking the law.

In essence, the Democrats are giving a preemptive pardon to George Bush and everyone else that authorized and participated in this illegal surveillance program.

Now, if we only had a couple of strong leaders on the Democratic side who could stop this. Oh wait a minute, I remember two people that kept telling me how strong and capable they were. One of them even claimed that change was coming. You know when it might be a good time for change? Right about now.

Instead, Hillary Clinton is on vacation somewhere doing absolutely nothing about this immunity bill. When it's not about her career, all of a sudden she's not that moved to fight for us, our laws and our constitution. Since she's not going to be president, she's taken her ball and gone home.

And what about Obama? Nothing. Worse than nothing, because he's actually thinking about voting with the Republicans on a so-called compromise, which in the words of Sen. Feingold is nothing short of a "capitulation." Leadership you can believe in!

You think I sound angry here, you should have seen me all week on the show. If you want to see what I think of pathetic Democratic weakness, watch this (not safe for work or with kids around). The Democrats make it nearly impossible to respect them. And if you want to see what I think of Senator Clinton and Senator Obama's awful record of leadership on this issue, watch this:




If you can't beat the most unpopular president of all time in a simple legislative fight like this, how can you claim to be a strong and effective leader?

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Young Turks producer extraordinaire Jayar Jackson has put together a musical tribute to the Democratic primary race. It starts all the way at the beginning and finishes with the climactic events of this week. Take a look:




It was wild ride. Just when you thought it was over, there would always be one more turn. But now that it has finally come to an end, it is a fond memory. Now, on to the general election!

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Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination tonight, but you couldn't tell that if you were listening to Hillary Clinton's speech. I really thought she would have the good sense to know when the fight is over. But her refusal to concede tonight went from determination to derangement. Everybody likes a good tough fighter, but no one likes someone who keeps hitting after the bell has rung. It's ugly.

Watch her speech here (this is the part where she refuses to acknowledge that Obama has won) and then we explain how crazy this decision is:




Then Obama spoke and he was very gracious to her, even though he had already heard that she wouldn't concede. What more does he have to do? He passed the magic number. He has more pledged delegates, super delegates, overall delegates (and more popular votes too, despite Clinton's maniacal and completely unjustifiable claims to the contrary). The race was to get to a majority of the delegates -- and he got there. What is there not to concede?

There is one possible explanation for Hillary's actions tonight, I explain that in the clip below. First you'll see Obama's historic speech (the part where he claims victory) and then hear the possible reason Hillary is still hanging around in this race:




By the way, did you see McCain's speech tonight? Wow, that was embarrassing. It was anemic, lame and lacked even one percent of the energy of Clinton or Obama's speech. Unless some world changing event happens, McCain doesn't stand a chance. Anyone who saw Obama's speech and McCain's speech tonight can see that plain as day.

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UPDATE: The Associated Press has just announced that Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination. According to their tally and the uncommitted delegates they spoke to, Senator Obama will go over the magic number tonight with even the minimum amount of votes (30% of the vote) from Montana and South Dakota.

It's finally over. It should be interesting to watch both of their speeches tonight. Let's see how Senator Clinton handles the loss. Earlier, I wrote about her upcoming speech tonight:

There are now many reports out that Hillary Clinton is preparing a concession speech on Tuesday night after the primary season finally comes to an end with the South Dakota and Montana races. What was the deal struck to make this happen and what are the signs that it's actually going to happen? Get the details in the short video below:




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Hillary Clinton is allowed to say the most awful things about Barack Obama, but any time Hillary Clinton gets in trouble, she uses women voters as her defense shield. Obama better not strike back, he better not criticize her in any way, shape or form because otherwise Hillary Clinton will take her women voters and go home.

Obama is stuck in a position where he has to keep absorbing these hits but can't hit back for fear of alienating Clinton's voters. She keeps using this to batter him. She even used this strategy to defend her horrific comments about RFK's assassination. How? We explain in the video below:




Here is actual the paragraph from the Hillary editorial I am quoting above:

I am running for all those women in their 90s who've told me they were born before women could vote, and they want to live to see a woman in the White House. For all the women who are energized for the first time, and voting for the first time. For the little girls - and little boys - whose parents lift them onto their shoulders at our rallies, and whisper in their ears, "See, you can be anything you want to be." As the first female candidate in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to finish this race.

I am running for all the men and women I meet who wake up every day and work hard to make a difference for their families. People who deserve a shot at the American Dream - the chance to save for college, a home and retirement; to afford quality health care for their families; to fill the gas tank and buy the groceries with a little left over each month.

I'm sick of her tactics, her excuses, her lies and her disingenuous reasons for continuing to stay in the race. It has absolutely nothing to do with these voters. It has to do with the fact that she cannot believe she won't get to be president -- what she had always assumed to be her right. She suffered through all of Bill's dalliances just so she could get into this position. She was the anointed one. It was supposed to be her. She cannot and she will not let it go. And it has now become sad and embarrassing.

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Many Clinton supporters, including Geraldine Ferraro, are now saying that Obama ran a sexist campaign and that Senator Clinton might have lost because of sexism. In the video below, we have their quotes and their charges, and we also discuss whether that idea has any merit:




What do you think? Did Hillary Clinton lose because of sexism? Did her gender help her or hurt her? And was Obama in any way sexist against Clinton?

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We've got to thank Barack Obama. It looks like he has sealed Hillary Clinton's fate. Yes, Slick Hillary will continue with her false smiles and false assurances, but everything is beginning to ring hollow. I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary got out of the race soon.

The Democratic primaries sure have been fun. To me they have been reminiscent of the Iran-Iraq war. Needless to say, I have been hoping for heavy casualties on both sides! Hillary's attacks on Obama have taken a toll. It was especially gratifying to hear Hillary make the argument that both she and McCain are vastly more experienced than Obama. Surely McCain will get some mileage out of that in the next several months. Hillary also raised questions about whether Obama can be trusted in an emergency. Again, this is a theme that can only benefit McCain. Between the questions raised by Hillary and the doubts raised by Obama's association with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama's reputation has been tarnished.

Ambivalent though I am about Obama, I must credit him with saving the nation from the prospect of another Clinton presidency. For eight years the Clintons used the Oval Office for personal self-aggrandizement, renting out the Lincoln bedroom, selling pardons, and chasing around the hired help. Yes, Bill was the lecher, but Hillary was the enabler. I wonder if this is the "experience" she has been touting on the campaign, since I'm not sure what else she accomplished over her eight years as First Lady. Finally America may be ridding itself of this cunning, opportunistic duo.

Contrast the Clintons with other recent presidencies and the difference becomes apparent. Many people disagree with and even loathe Bush but it's hard to say that Bush became president for personal gain. All the folks who said he invaded Iraq for the sake of oil interests have never shown Bush to be the beneficiary of any such gains. By contrast, the Clintons came to Washington virtually broke and have been cashing in since day one. Now the couple since has a net worth in excess of $100 million. Is there any precedent for such self-enrichment? George H.W. Bush and Reagan and Ford and Carter had their share of Oval Office troubles but all of them involved disagreements about policy. No one suggested that these men were using their office for their own benefit. The Clintons are clearly in a low class of their own.

Good riddance to the Clintons also means good riddance to the era of the 1960s. The self-indulgent, megalomaniacal sixties generation is not only an embarassment to itself, it also represents the great failure of the World War II generation. For all its accomplishments, the "greatest generation" failed in one significant respect: it couldn't replicate itself but produced instead the spoiled children of the Clinton generation.

This November, America will have a choice between an independent-minded candidate of the World War II generation and an inspiring but also troubling candidate of the post-sixties generation. Meanwhile, it appears, two sullen, resentful Clintons will be watching from the wings.

There are two interesting things that came out of John McCain's last appearance on The O'Reilly Factor. One, he clearly lied about voting for Bush in 2000. Arianna Huffington said earlier this week that he told a table full of guests at a dinner they had together that he did not vote for Bush in the 2000 general election. Since then, there have been four other witnesses that corroborated Huffington's story to The Washington Post, New York Times and LA Times.

That's part of the reason why McCain looks and sounds so nervous below, which leads to the second interesting point. He has entered the maniacal laughter competition with Hillary Clinton. His laugh below is so forced and awkward that it's a little painful to look at. So, check out the video below and then tell us who has the weirder laugh, McCain or Hillary:




So, who gets your vote?

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In the video below we explain the main two strategic errors that the Clinton team made. We also talk about the third reason they lost -- their frame of mind. Find out what their two big mistakes were and how their arrogance cost them this election:




Here is the Time magazine article I referenced in the video above.

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Hilary Clinton has lost!!!!!! It's over!

It's been over for a long time now, but Senator Clinton has managed to hoodwink the media into playing the expectations game -- where people's expectations are more relevant that the reality of who is winning more states and delegates. But reality has a way of catching up with you.

I looked at the number of delegates Clinton and Obama had before the Ohio and Texas contest on March 4th and how many they have now. What do you think the result was? The media has been talking non-stop about Hillary's momentum and how Obama has been stumbling. So, that must mean she has really closed his lead, right?

Well, the reality is that Senator Clinton has lost 53 delegates since then to Barack Obama. He has widened his delegate lead to 155 delegates. She has absolutely no chance of winning this race. None.

How much clearer does this have to be before we call it what it is? She has no momentum. She does not have enough pledged delegates or superdelegates. She will not win the delegate race or the popular vote. She can't go on much longer like this. She will have to face reality very, very soon.

The only question that remains is whether she will be pushed out the door by the rest of the Democratic Party or whether she leaves voluntarily. Stay tuned for how that turns out.

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The Democrats going on Fox News Channel is a terrible idea for many reasons. They legitimize a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party by agreeing to the fiction that they are a real news organization. They field twisted and slanted questions that set them up for answers that will later be used against them.

Obama fell into this trap last week when he told Chris Wallace that the Rev. Wright controversy was a legitimate political issue. He is trying to be nice to a Fox News anchor, which is just stupid. He is going to use it against you! And he already has. Wallace used Obama's statements to justify several more questions he asked Howard Dean about Rev. Wright this weekend.

But the one reason I never found persuasive for not going on Fox is that the Democrats can't handle it. But there's some chance I'm wrong about that. You can't go and talk to Bill O'Reilly if you're not prepared to challenge him on the obvious bullcrap he's going to toss your way. And that's exactly what Hillary Clinton did. She went in unprepared and pretty much lost a debate on torture. Watch below:





One of our viewers, Tony Daughtrey, made a good point after watching this on our show. O'Reilly keeps calling waterboarding a dunk in the water. You know who else we used to dunk in the water to get confessions? Witches.

Does O'Reilly think we got reliable information out of those women by dunking them in the water during the Salem Witch Trials? Remember, they almost all confessed. So, I guess they must have all been witches after all.

There's a reason why we don't torture people anymore. It's barbaric and useless. They'll tell you whatever you want to hear -- I did it, Iraq is connected to Al Qaeda, I'm a witch, I'm a terrorist, etc., etc.

Finally, we invaded Iraq based on the faulty intelligence we got from one of the guys we tortured. You can read about it here. That wrong information cost the lives of countless people. Is it too much to ask Democrats that they at least learn that one fact and bring that up the next time someone attempts an asinine defense of torture?

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There are several overwhelming reasons why Hillary Clinton's argument's about the popular vote is absolute nonsense. She argues that she is winning the popular vote and that is what should matter in figuring out who the nominee will be. Neither one of these things is remotely true for the reasons we explain below:



The person co-hosting with me here is RJ Eskow from the Huffington Post.

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Yesterday on the show, our producer, Jayar Jackson asked just the right question -- why are we still talking about the appearance of Hillary Clinton's victory in Pennsylvania? Doesn't the fact that she only picked up nine delegates from the race do very little for her? If so, why bother discussing whether she has momentum?

We explain below why the appearance of momentum is important in these elections in general and why it's irrelevant and won't help Hillary Clinton at all now.




Of course, Senator Clinton is also addressing her points about momentum and electability to the super-delegates, which is a different kind of voting. But she's losing in that race as well. She argues to these Democratic leaders that she is more electable. If that's the case, then why isn't she winning?

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Hillary Clinton's main man in Pennsylvania is Governor Ed Rendell. He has campaigned for her tirelessly and she is very proud of his endorsement and support. Alas, unfortunately, she must immediately denounce and reject him!

Find out why here:




As I explained in the rest of the show, Gov. Rendell's speech at the Nation of Islam is totally fine by me. It does not in any way indicate he supports all of their positions. Louis Farrakhan has said some terrible things in the past and still holds on to some vile ideas. But he does preach self-reliance and some other positive messages as well. This game of playing gotcha with who can be more effectively connected to explosive people in American politics is beyond silly.

We don't live in a black and white world. People are complicated and you need some degree of nuance to know what to denounce and reject and what to listen to. As Gov. Rendell pointed out in this speech we get beyond some of our disagreements and misunderstandings when we talk to each other.

At this point, ironically, the person who has the most to learn by listening to Ed Rendell on that point is ... Hillary Clinton.

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This year the leading Democratic candidate has been charged with being an "elitist." What surprise! That's what they're charged with every four years. George W. Bush went to Andover, Yale and Harvard, his dad was president and he had everything in his life handed to him on a silver platter and the media said his opponents were elitists and he was an average Joe. Why do they keep falling for this same crap every time? Are they this stupid or are they complicit?





We also discussed who is more elitists between the different campaigns here (warning: some strong language). I know it was Hillary Clinton who originally brought up this elitist charge this time, but then again it's hard to separate her from a Republican these days, as I explain in this video (also some strong language).

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