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24 June 2008 Zagreb _ A former US ambassador to Croatia has accused Zagreb of plotting and sanctioning the exodus of Serbs in 1995 to create an "ethnically clean" country. Peter Galbraith told The Hague war crimes trial of three Croatian generals, that the leadership headed by late President Franjo Tudjman used ‘Operation Storm’ to ‘cleanse’ Croatia of Serbs. “Croatian authorities either ordered or allowed a mass destruction of the Serb property in former (Serb-held region of) Krajina to prevent the return of the population. I consider that to have been a thought through policy,” he said, testifying at the...

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, today brushed aside furious Russian protests and downgraded the UN mission in Kosovo to allow the European Union to launch its most ambitious foreign project. Ban announced the "reconfiguration" of the nine-year-old UN mission on the eve of the Kosovo authorities enacting a constitution for an independent state which is fiercely opposed by Russia and Serbia. Russia responded by demanding the sacking of the UN chief in Kosovo, Joachim Ruecker of Germany, accusing him of working to sabotage his own mission. The Russian foreign ministry said Ruecker's conduct was "scandalous obstinacy which should be decisively...

No matter what November brings, Barack Obama has managed to accomplish something no Republican has done since 1980: He has wrung a concession speech out of the Clintons. Clintonite dead-enders may never forgive him for it. As Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her presidential campaign and pledged to back the man who defeated her in the Democratic delegate race, there was a smattering of boos the first time Obama's name was mentioned. Nevertheless, Hillary intoned, "I endorse him, and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama...

It was probably symbolic in some way that Hillary Clinton made everyone of her supporters wait around nearly 45 minutes before she could finally make it to the podium to offer her surrender to Barack Obama and, by extension, the Democrat Party that was waiting around for it to be made official. It was a fairly perfunctory speech with the exception of the fact that it never once mentioned John McCain, the Republican opponent. Oversight? I think not. For those of us who have come to loath her and Bill over the years, it was a welcome moment, but now...

Hillary Rodham Clinton ended her historic bid for the White House on Saturday and enthusiastically endorsed Barack Obama. Yeah, right. She actually suspended her campaign, allowing her to hold on to her delegates and technically remain a candidate. She does so in the hope that something might happen which would change the minds of the superdelegates that have fallen over like dominoes for Obama. And what, pray tell would make that happen? Another scandal, perhaps. One so devastating to the Obama camp that it would cripple his candidacy. There are rumors of a DVD which may soon surface, purportedly of...

During the campaign, it was her opponent who owned the lofty rhetoric. But on the day she finally conceded defeat, it was Hillary Clinton's words that soared. "As we gather here today," she told her supporters and staff members at the National Building Museum yesterday, "the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House." Two hundred forty miles below the international space station, the midday sunlight pouring into the 100-foot-high atrium illuminated the thousands who had come to bid the Clinton...

Chelsea Clinton (L) and former US President Bill Clinton watch as US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) speaks at the National Building Museum in Washington June 7, 2008. Clinton endorsed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) to be the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate on Saturday and suspended her own White House bid less than a week after the Illinois senator secured enough support to win the nomination. Clinton's endorsement of Obama in a speech at the National Building Museum marked the beginning of efforts to reunite the Democratic Party after a long and divisive campaign battle...

The rarely-seen Matt Drudge, under the supervision of of Clinton consultant Tracy Sefl, is here for the end. Clinton's aides blame him, as much as anyone else, for her loss. He wouldn't, however, participate in Jonathan Martin's and my attempt at mindreading.

Clinton is expected to throw her support behind Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign during an event at noon ET Saturday at the National Building Museum in Washington.

Hillary Clinton publicly and enthusiastically endorsed Barack Obama for president Saturday in Washington D.C., as she suspended her historic bid for the White House. “The way to continue our fight now … is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all that we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States,” she said to cheering supporters. “Today as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won, and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him.”

You didn’t really think she would just concede, did you? Just because it’s over? Just because she lost? Just because her campaign now has no chance, no point and, oh yeah, no money either? She’s Hillary Clinton! She’s not giving up on you! (Funny the way Hillary spells “me”.) One of the things people do, when they don’t want to do the only thing they can do, is act like it’s not clear what to do. The deposed Queen Inevitable demonstrates: "This has always been your campaign,” she told supporters at a “victory” rally held on the night she lost....

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will suspend her campaign late this week, senior campaign officials confirmed tonight. Clinton will host an event in Washington on Saturday "to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity," according to Howard Wolfson, who did not explicitly state that Clinton is dropping out of the race. But other campaign officials said the event will coincide with her departure, despite her earlier reservations about stepping aside.

Hillary to suspend campaign in DC Saturday By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, June 5, 2008 Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will announce the suspension of her campaign and her endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee, Saturday, in Washington D.C according to a statement issued Wednesday evening. The statement did not officially confirm her decision but said Clinton would be hosting an event in Washington, DC to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. According to the statement, the event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters...

Hillary Clinton's campaign said she would end her campaign for president at an event in Washington, D.C. Saturday. Clinton will "thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity," the campaign said in a statement. The campaign initially planned a Friday event, but rescheduled it to Saturday in a second statement, in order "to accomodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend." Clinton delivered something approaching a victory speech Tuesday night, just minutes after the media reported that Senator Barack Obama had clinched the nomination with a majority of the pledged delegates. But reality...

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will endorse Senator Barack Obama on Friday, bringing a close to her 17-month campaign for the White House, aides said. Her decision came after Democrats urged her on Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton’s aides said she would “express her support for Senator Obama and party unity” at an event in Washington that day. One adviser said that Mrs. Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Mr. Obama and proclaim him the party’s nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory. Her decision came...

Her defiant victory speech Tuesday night and her campaign’s silence this morning have Clinton’s aides and supporters asking the same question she asked herself last night: “What does Hillary want?” “She’s holding out for something – but I’m not sure what it is,” a usually well-informed campaign advisor who spoke to Clinton yesterday told Politico. Other Clinton supporters, meanwhile, pressed her case for the Vice Presidency in a variety of forums, with congressional supporters led by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida considering a letter to Obama pressing that case, Wasserman-Schultz’s chief of staff said. But they were slowed by the lack...

Excerpt - Back when Sen. Hillary Clinton was just starting her campaign, top aides and advisers had a ready answer when asked if she could win the presidency. "She's already winning," came the response, as repeated by chief strategist Mark Penn, campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe and other top aides and advisers, in memos, press releases and interviews as the campaign began more than a year ago. It was a rejoinder that fit the "inevitable" candidate  and for a long while, the response fit the facts. Clinton, D-N.Y., occupied the race's top perch virtually until the voting started, with a...

Ken Vogel reports from the Clinton bubble a Clinton spokesman is pushing back on the notion of a concession soon, something even many of her aides and top supporters now expect. Hillary Clinton will not drop out of the presidential race Tuesday or in several days that follow, the spokesman,Mo Elleithee, said Monday afternoon. "It's pretty clear that she's not conceding," Elleithee told reporters on Clinton's campaign plane en route from Rapid City, S.D. to Sioux City, Iowa. Instead, Elleithee said Clinton would be "aggressively courting" superdelegates and "putting together the next phase of the campaign," which he said could...

Members of Hillary Clinton's advance staff received calls and emails this evening from headquarters summoning them to New York City Tuesday night, and telling them their roles on the campaign are ending, two Clinton staffers tell my colleague Amie Parnes. The advance staffers — most of them now in Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and Montana — are being given the options of going to New York for a final day Tuesday, or going home, the aides said. The move is a sign that the campaign is beginning to shed — at least — some of its staff. The advance staff...

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton will give her post-primary speech in New York Tuesday night, a rare departure from the campaign trail. Staffers who have worked for her on he ground in Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana have been invited to attend the event or go home for further instructions, campaign aides said. The New York senator had no other events Tuesday. She planned to address AIPAC Wednesday in Washington. But she is under increasing pressure to cede the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama after the final primaries. There was a sense of denouement in the...

Will keep this short. Networks preparing for Hillary to (finally) quit in speech Tuesday night. Will be from NY, Staffers being told to turn in expenses, resumes being FedExed to Obama and other state/local campaigns. Staffers at one network recalled from lunches to prepare. Campaign staffers being told to go home. One network had long conference call among suits last night, followed by conference call between tech types to set up remotes, back-hauls, break-ins, etc. Union technicians, cameramen, audio, video engineers, etc. told to expect overtime. More as available From Associated Press RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton...

A part of modern political Americana says he's gone Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Salena Zito Former President William Jefferson Clinton told supporters in South Dakota that this many be his last day that he is ever involved in a campaign of this kind.

Clinton spokesperson Mo Elleithee came to the back of the press plane as Clinton flew from Rapid City to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was asked about Clinton's definition of when a nominee would be determined -– because she has refused to accept the new 2,118 delegates number that the Democratic Party says is needed to clinch the nomination. "I think its pretty clear that she is not conceding." Elleithee said, "I think its pretty clear that she is staying in this race. She is going, in the coming days, to be aggressively courting uncommitted superdelegates aggressively courting unpledged delegates,...

Senior advisers to Senator Hillary Clinton have prepared the ground for her to abandon her presidential ambitions within days rather than disputing the Democratic nomination all the way to the party convention in August. Senator Barack Obama is expected to be able to declare himself the party's candidate against Senator John McCain as early as tomorrow, when South Dakota and Montana become the final states to hold their primaries. Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said the nomination would be decided this week: "We don't want to go to the convention, have a big fight at the convention, and...

From the beginning, it was Hillary who took charge. 'Look,' she told the future President of the United States in a wood-panelled reading room at the Yale Law School library, 'if you're going to keep staring at me, and I'm going to keep staring back, we should at least introduce ourselves. I'm Hillary Rodham.' The year was 1970, and Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham had just embarked on a lifetime of cinematic personal and public highs and lows. As she did that flirty afternoon in New Haven, Connecticut, Hillary played a dominant role, one greater than many Clinton watchers ever...

Members of the Kennedy family are incensed over Hillary Rodham Clinton's invoking the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy to explain why she's staying in the race - and they think it could be the death knell of an increasingly desperate and sloppy campaign. "That comment may be the last nail in her campaign's coffin," a Kennedy relative told The Post. "How can Hillary even use the experience argument when she repeatedly pushes the wrong buttons in her comments?" An insider added, "I think people really felt that a line was crossed and that her campaign - and even her legitimacy...

Billary gave an impassioned speech in Boca Raton Florida in attempts to gain delegates in both Florida and Michigan. In her speech she states that her campaign’s struggle to succeed at this task is similar to the ending slavery. Clinton goes on to say: that it is also similar to “fighting racial discrimination at the ballot box” she stated. “This work to extend the franchise to all of our citizens is a core mission of the modern Democratic Party” Clinton adds. Let’s rewind to 2000 when Condoleezza Rice spoke at the Republican National Convention shall we? Rice recalls: “The first...

Short but serious question: So, what's it gonna be folks? Turncoat RINO or America hating Marxist?

"She has changed her rhetoric and for the first time now her people, her closest aides ... are acknowledging she is not going to win this"

What does Hillary want? Whatever it is, Barack Obama should just say yes. Unless she wants to be his running mate. Then he definitely should say no. Obama has to say no nicely, of course, to let her save face and, more important, not to drive away her supporters. But he also has to say no firmly enough that she realizes there is no room for negotiation. Clinton's blowout win in West Virginia yesterday puts an exclamation point on the dilemma Obama faces. He has the nomination nearly sewn up, but her refusal to quit could disrupt his plan to...

May 14, 2008 | "She Came to Stay." That was the American title of Simone de Beauvoir's first book, a 1943 roman à clef about a manipulative and self-absorbed young woman who saps the energy and willpower of her admirers and plunges them into the existential abyss. Bulletin to all nations: help! Tornadoes, typhoons and earthquakes batter the globe, while the U.S. is teetering into recession and paralyzed by a stupid war it can neither win nor quit. But somehow we are locked at the hip to Hillary Clinton, who won't stop her manic tarantella until her party whirls into...

Iowahawk Guest Opinionby Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY)From the earliest days of the campaign, the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination has been a hard fought, neck-and-neck struggle. But now, as the race enters its final stretch, it has become increasingly obvious that the eventual outcome is no longer in doubt. With a difficult general election looming, Democrats need to put our family squabbles aside and unite behind the eventual nominee. And so, in the interest of Party unity, and his own health, I am calling on Senator Obama to gracefully accept defeat.First, let me congratulate Senator Obama and his...

Despite evidence to the contrary, Hillary and Bill Clinton do indeed know the meaning of the word "quit." The problem is that they exclusively define it (courtesy of Webster's Third International Dictionary) as "any of various small passerine birds chiefly of the West Indies." So if Hillary is asked any ornithological questions during the run-up to the June 1 Puerto Rican primary, she will happily talk about quits. Otherwise, the topic is off the table -- at least for the moment. The New York senator has obviously reached the death-with-dignity phase of her 2008 ambitions. Normally in presidential politics three...

Senator Hillary Clinton has referred to the next president as “he”, a slip that has fuelled speculation that she is on the verge of dropping out of the race for the White House. As the former First Lady met voters at three events in West Virginia, attention turned to how she could make a graceful exit from a gruelling, 17-month contest. She carried on campaigning despite confessions from senior staff that winning the Democratic Party’s nomination was a near impossibility and that her campaign was $21 million (£10 million) in debt. Her financial problems, if nothing else, may force her...

She once described herself as "the most famous person you know very little about." But as she careens across the country in a desperate attempt to rescue her campaign, America is coming to know Hillary Clinton all too well. The tenacity that even critics praised suddenly looks tawdry. The persistence against impossible odds appears anything but noble. Long after the party is over, Clinton's refusal to go home is taking on the trappings of a sad spectacle. Her inability to accept defeat is not, it seems clear, about public service or even politics. It is merely personal. With Barack Obama...

Sen. Hillary Clinton is a smart, strong, tenacious woman. Those qualities are ones that many of us have admired in her for years. They also are traits that cause a lot of other people -- including many women -- to despise her. Some folk just can't stand a forceful female, an intelligent woman who is willing to stand her ground with any man and one who has the audacity to believe that she can be president of the United States. Despite my longtime admiration for her, I must admit that in recent months I've lost some of the respect for...

Clinton: 'It's Not Over Until the Lady in the Pantsuit Says It Is' May 11, 2008 4:11 PM ABC News' Eloise Harper reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke in Grafton, W.Va., on Mother’s Day with her daughter by her side. Clinton read a few messages from supporters who urged her to continue her bid for the presidency. "'Keep strong,' she said. 'It's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is,'" Clinton said, reading what she said was her favorite message. Another one she read said: "Keep fighting. No matter what the outcome may be, the fact that you...

Hillary Rodham Clinton began her presidential quest armed with talent, tenacity, fame, money, connections and a team that knew how to win. Many people believed her victory in the Democratic nomination battle was a sure thing. Her ultimate failing may have been in believing it, too. Clinton had one big problem out of the gate: 40 percent or more of Americans said they'd never vote for her. She was too polarizing. It's love her or hate her. Clinton powered through that hurdle in state after state, showing grit that earned her the valuable political currency of being merely admired. White...

NOT so long ago, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination was dominated by talk of Hillary Clinton's mental toughness and fighting qualities. One critic even referred to the former first lady's "testicular fortitude". But at a Mother's Day function in New York yesterday, Senator Clinton's hardball approach was suddenly missing, raising speculation she is ready to abandon her campaign and cede Barack Obama the victory that everyone else knows he's won. The shift in Senator Clinton's demeanour came on a day when Senator Obama finally took the lead in the super delegate count, leaving his rival without a single...

Check out this hilarious VIDEO parody about Hillary based on the movie, Sunset Boulevard. This parody only makes real sense if you have seen that movie made in 1950. BTW, I am a HUGE fan of all movies and documentaries made circa the years 1950 to 1953. There is something about that era that I find fascinating. I'm not sure if it was the cars or the clothes or the hairstyles or maybe something else but that is sort of a forgotten era. It was the fifties but not yet Eisenhower fifties. Okay, end of lecture. Enjoy the parody!

National polling firm Rasmussen Reports announced on Friday that it will stop polling people about the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, will win the Democratic nomination. The company's vice president of finance and operations, Michael Boniello, distributed an e-mail stating that after 19 months of tracking the Democratic race, it is now clear that Clinton will remain a close second. The following is an excerpt from Boniello's e-mail: "The most remarkable feature of the race has been its consistency and stability. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both running historic campaigns...

The once-formidable fund-raising machine of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun to sputter at the worst possible moment for Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign, Clinton advisers and donors said Thursday, with spending curtailed on political events and advertising as Mrs. Clinton seeks to compete in the last six nominating contests. Mrs. Clinton’s diminished political momentum, following Tuesday’s loss in the North Carolina primary and her narrow victory in Indiana, appears to have had a dampening effect on her fund-raising, aides said, increasing the likelihood that Mrs. Clinton will lend her campaign more of her own money beyond the $11 million...

SHE lost hard in North Carolina, and barely held on to win Indiana. Hillary Clinton just doesn’t have enough straws left to clutch. The best (or worst) she can hope to do the rest of the way is bloody Barack Obama enough to make him lose in the fall, allowing her to come back in 2012.

Dogged, determined Sen. Hillary Clinton smacked into turbulence somewhere over Indiana. In the incongruous rules of politics, she won the state narrowly but lost the battle for the nomination. It is time for Clinton to do something she is not wired to do: yield the nomination to Sen. Barack Obama, the candidate with the best chance to win and unify Democrats.Clinton is not campaigning to be the Energizer Bunny, which, against all odds, keeps mechanically bobbing forward and backward because, darn it, the batteries still work. She has talked in recent days about being a fighter. Fighters may never give...

It appears the Clinton campaign is still going after NBC/MSNBC for their coverage of the candidiate. This time, they are targeting Tim Russert for telling viewers Tuesday night: "We now know who the Democratic nominee is going to be, and no one is going to dispute it." Howard Kurtz writes today that Jay Carson, Clinton's press secretary, "fired off an e-mail yesterday to Chuck Todd, NBC's political director. While assuring Todd that he was 'not trying to be a jerk,' Carson wrote: 'Can you think of one good reason we should continue to cart you guys around the country with...

WASHINGTON - Apart from George McGovern, a plainspoken man who knows something about losing elections, not a single Democrat of national stature publicly urged Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday to end her campaign for the White House. They didn't have to. There was no shortage of other ways to signal, suggest, insinuate or instigate the same thing. And certainly no need to apply unseemly pressure to a historic political figure, a woman who has run a grueling race, won millions of votes and drawn uncounted numbers of new Democratic voters to the polls. Instead, many Democrats preferred to say softly...

She plods ahead now, only in the race because she won Indiana by the size of a Knicks crowd, and all Hillary Clinton has left is giving people another month of reasons not to vote for the black guy. She thinks she still has that going for her, along with the cockeyed notion that somebody who can loan herself more than $11 million to keep running for President is more of a working-class hero than Norma Rae. "We're pleased with our result in Indiana," one of her flacks says on a conference call Wednesday, even though nobody believes it. There...

It’s not over. That’s the message out of the Clinton campaign today. On a conference call with reporters Saturday, campaign aides responded to an article posted on politico.com that states that “Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning” the nomination. The article also quotes an anonymous “important Clinton adviser” as saying privately that Clinton has no more than a ten percent chance of winning her race against Barack Obama. “Sen. Clinton has been counted out many times in this campaign,” said communications director Howard Wolfson. “The press has on several occasions decided the campaign was over, Sen. Clinton...

It was extremely unlikely that Hillary Clinton was going to overcome Barack Obama's lead in delegates, states and total votes and take the Democratic nomination, but Obama's speech this morning -- graceful, thoughtful, nuanced, sweeping, challenging, unprecedented -- pretty much wiped out any chance at all. It was a speech Hillary could never have given -- really, few U.S. politicians ever could have given. I write this not just because I think this will dampen the Rev. Wright controversy. I write this because Obama did an extraordinary job of presenting himself as the candidate of "the better angels of our...

One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning. Her own campaign acknowledges there is no way that she will finish ahead in pledged delegates. That means the only way she wins is if Democratic superdelegates are ready to risk a backlash of historic proportions from the party’s most reliable constituency. Unless Clinton is able to at least win the primary popular vote — which also would take nothing less than an electoral miracle — and use that achievement to pressure superdelegates, she has...