Hillary Agonistes

"Hillary and her husband are now out to destroy our nominee. Your could argue that it kind of made sense when Hillary still had a chance (her kitchen-sink tactics were nasty, to be sure, they appeared to have crossed a line, but at least there was a logic to it when Hillary had a chance). Now that the race is over and Hillary has lost, her ongoing attempts to hurt Obama, to smear him, to make rural voters hate him, to convince America that a black man can't and shouldn't be president, make her little better than the Republicans she hated during the 1990s - people who were out to hurt her simply for the joy of inflicting pain."

What NYT reporter Kate Zernike told me was "ding dong the witch is dead" coverage is generating some anger, as Politico confirms:

"There's a motivational shift afoot in Hillary nation. The legions of Hillary Rodham Clinton backers still investing their cash, energy and emotion into her faltering bid for the Democratic presidential nomination seem driven not by the reasonable expectation that she can beat Barack Obama, but by the emotional desire to see her through to the end of voting and stick it to those who have already written her off. Clinton's campaign is fanning the flames of that backlash -- against the media, against superdelegates who recently backed Obama and against Obama himself. Aides hope to convert the sentiments into protest votes that could deliver landslide victories in West Virginia and Kentucky, Clinton strongholds that are among the next three states to cast ballots."

What about the tiresome dream-ticket chatter? American Prospect's Ezra Klein peers into the future of the Clintonites in an Obama administration:

"Will they be able to keep their sprawling universe of well-connected confidantes from leaking tales of their displeasure to the press? Will they want to? What happens when the first Time magazine cover comes out with Obama staring down the Clintons, and the tagline is, 'Who's Really Running the Country?' It's such an obvious story that it can be predicted, with almost perfect certainty, right now."

I'd say the probability is high.

Still, "in a USA TODAY Gallup Poll, 55% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents also would like Illinois Sen. Barack Obama to choose Clinton as his running mate, although there's notable resistance among his backers."

Obama, for his part, continues to be dogged by bogus rumors, as Andrew Sullivan details:

" 'I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife's an atheist,' -- Leonard Simpson, a West Virginia Democrat. Then this:

"Josh Fry, a 24-year-old ambulance driver from Williamson, insisted he was not racist but said he would feel more comfortable with Mr McCain, the 71-year-old Vietnam war hero, in the White House. 'I want someone who is a full-blooded American as president,' he said.

"Meanwhile, I get an email like this:

" 'This guy is a muslim trying to take over religion, rights, gunns, and lastly our country. Does anyone remember 911. He's cunning and a racists. He is connected with dirty money and bad connections in the rest of the world.'