By James M. Wall
Suddenly, the McCain forces have taken up the cause of the overlooked Hillary Clinton as Obama’s running mate. A posting on the ever alert Daily Kos blog late Sunday night describes the empathy felt for Hillary by the McCainites. Here is an example:
No matter who was chosen, [the McCain campaign] would have professed concern that they know much better than Democrats who the Democratic nominees should have been.
In this case the goal is to sow discord among Democrats by riling supporters of Hillary Clinton. Here’s Rudy Giuliani concern trolling this morning on ABC:
“You almost have to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid [Clinton] as the vice presidential pick of the party.”
Before noon Monday, Kos is on line again, this time with a reminder of how the gallant Navy war hero John McCain reacted when one of his supporters called Hillary the “b” word during a primary campaign event. Response in the room? Shocked silence? Anything but; the question was greeted with great laughter all around. McCain struggled to keep from laughing himself.
Not admonishing the questioner, McCain said her question was a good one. Warning: The clip contains a word not normally used in polite society.
Tracking the grieving Clinton camp, Lisa Wangsness reports in Monday’s Boston Globe:
But outside the convention arena in Denver, some of Hillary Clinton’s supporters plan to air their grievances against Obama, the party’s leadership, and the national media, whose coverage of the primary battle they considered sexist. Hundreds of disaffected Democrats from around the country plan to converge in the Mile High City to hold news conferences, protests, and vigils, threatening the party’s ability to present a united front against Republican John McCain.. . . “This is a voter’s revolt,” said Darragh Murphy, who founded Puma PAC, a pro-Clinton political action committee whose acronym stands for People United Means Action.
Other Clinton supporters prefer to give PUMA a more earthy meaning, as one blogger reports with the final word slightly adjusted, as in, “Party Unity my Glass”!
Perhaps giddy on the high Denver altitude, two Hillary Clinton loyalists, the ever-verbose Paul Begala and James Carville, were reported to be urging Hillary delegates and supporters to keep feeling their pain. Talking Point Memo found evidence of the Begala-Carville fingerprints on the Clinton rebellion in an interview the two gave on, of course, CNN, where they have emerged as permanent commentators. The report is largely factual, but read further to the comments where there are indications the Begala-Carville road show is losing traction.
Tuesday night we will find out. Will Hillary endorse Obama or PUMA? Hillary knows that history does not look kindly on poor losers. She has her eyes firmly fixed on her role as the first serious female presidential candidate in American history.
The speech she gives after her daughter introduces her will be unstinting in its endorsement and praise for the Obama-Biden ticket. It will be a speech that will enhance, not diminish, her place in history. It will be a speech that will make her daughter, the Democratic party, and at least half of the nation, proud. Meanwhile, PUMA, Begala and Carville will just have to learn to live with that reality.
Click here to learn more about The Puma: One Name for the Mountain Lion
Wallwritings 
Your post is all over the place. Can’t quite understand the point; which makes me suspect you’re a closet Obamazoid. Whatever. Just understand this. The PUMA movement needs no encouragement from Begala or Carville. They’re irrelevant to this movement.. Which is why I think you’re an Obamabot because they keep trying to insinuate that the PUMAs are somehow linked to the Clintons or people close to them. There are so many of us that there’s no way we could all know the Clintons personally. And for many of us like me, IT’S NOT ABOUT HILLARY!!! It’s about the theft of the Democratic party. Hillary is only the incidental beneficiary of our anger at the party. People who don’t get that will keep trying to make concessions to Hillary & trying to get her to bring us around, when in fact she can’t. But if you were a real PUMA, you’d know that. So I think you should crawl back under your rock, troll
There is really nothing to endorse about PUMAs. In as much as they are grass roots organizations, I emphasize the plural nature here, she could in no way control, communicate or corral their energies, short of unsuspending her campaign. Doing so would hardly be called endorsing PUMA. On the other hand, were there to be an honest convention with an open roll call of states, it would make sense to wonder if she would ‘endorse’ PUMA in that she consents to a draft, ‘or else’. It has been known for quite some time that DNC is not permitting an open floor vote, but will force an acclamation. All your ponderous speculation is essentially futile, naught and trite.
Can you explain, joanie, how it is that it’s the “theft of the Democratic Party,” when the Clintons themselves helped set the rules for the nominating process?
She got fewer votes. It’s tough. Deal with it. Don’t vote against your own interests, in fact the interests that you would have supported Hillary for, because you don’t like the outcome of the primary. It’s petty and childish, and if you think four years of Obama would be bad, just think about four more years of McCain/Bush running the country.
Is that REALLY what you want? There may not be a 2012 if you help elect McCain. You ready to have that on YOUR head?
I believe in Hillary, but at the end of the day, I will have to vote for Barack, as I know you all wll. It’s just the reality of the thing. It is what it is.
PUMA doesn’t need endorsements. Grass roots movements grow on their own steam, based on the issues they espouse arousing the passion of their members. We welcome Carville, Begalla or whomever shares our ideals – Hillary and Bill too. Our main issue is voting rights. If Hillary prefers to put her career ahead of this – that’s her choice.(just like spewing media platitudes is yours) How much cause for pride that would be for Chelsea is debatable. But truly inconsequential to me. I am an issue activist now, all parties be damned. PUMA!