Can Hillary Clinton pull off a miracle coming out of the Pennsylvania primary?  Unfortunately for her, a legendary Pennsylvania miracle worker is an Obama booster.
We learn this after reading the sensational PA Water Cooler blog (from KDKA):

Steelers legend Franco Harris opened Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters in Washington County.

Obama’s opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, made her rounds in Western Pennsylvania this week, stopping in Greensburg.

She’s come under fire for comments about landing under sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996, but CBS News video from that day showed no gunfire.

Harris says he won’t trash the senator.

“Things like that are really not important to me. You know, those are issues that sidetrack from the real issues,” he said.

Ah, the real issues are this: an infamous Franco Harris catch (now on YouTube) that PA Water Cooler shares:

We learn this from today’s New York Times about America’s efforts to support the Afghan government in the war on terror:

With the award last January of a federal contract worth as much as nearly $300 million, the company, AEY Inc., which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces.

Since then, the company has provided ammunition that is more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging, according to an examination of the munitions by The New York Times and interviews with American and Afghan officials.

Truly unfortunate.  But even more so considering this isn’t the first time we’ve under-supported the Afghans’ munition needs.

Readers of “Charlie Wilson’s War” might remember this passage on page 158

By the time Avrakotos came into the picture, the procurement operatives were buying just about any Lee-Enfield .303 ammunition available on the world market.  The Agency had already slipped more than 100,000 of these World War I-vintage rifles to the Afghans.

Well, at least we’re beyond World War I-era weapons to the Afgans.  Circa early Vietnam War is a bit more reasonable, eh?

We continue our special in-depth educational series, Meet Your Superdelegates. A rare chance to get to know specific superdelegates who will be deciding the Democratic presidential nominee. We’re focusing on party elders, government officials, senior advisors, and other high profile politicians who feature prominently in television and film. And we boldly speculate whom they will back at the Democratic convention. Today’s superdelegate profile comes from the breakthrough action adventure thriller “Executive Decision.”

U.S. Senator Mavros, a potential presidential candidate, flew into Tuzla, Bosnia in 1996 with Sheryl Crow and Sinbad.  There was no greeting ceremony.  And they basically were told to run to their cars.  Everyone else was told to sit on their bulletproof vests.  And they came in, in an evasive maneuver.  Harrowing, near-death experiences like that will forever endear Sen. Mavros to Hillary Clinton.

Previous profile: Sen. Kevin Keeley from “The Birdcage.”
Next profile: Treasury Secretary William Cleary from “The Wedding Crashers.”

Newsday, Dec. 31, 2007:

Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton’s eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she’s looked for an opening to strike back.

On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced, arguing she risked her life on White House missions in the 1990s, including a hair-raising flight into Bosnia that ended in a “corkscrew” landing and a sprint off the tarmac to dodge snipers.

“I don’t remember anyone offering me tea,” she quipped.

Tea anyone?

When a peep blames Israel for 9-11, well, that’s when we have to call foul and expose the videotape to the world.  Frankly, even our racist grandmother would do the same.

Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.

Never thought you’d hear that again, right?

Well, how else to react after reading this in Fishbowl:

Oh, get excited people: News is beginning to drip out about White House Correspondents’ Weekend. Like, that the Vanity Fair party is on! Ben Affleck’s gonna be there! Ashlee Simpson! Meghan McCain, too! And this will be an awkward table: Mark Penn and Karl Rove (Newsweek guests).

Yawn. Boring! C’mon, people! There’s only one celebrity we care about these days — Sinbad!

Five bucks to the news outlet that scores Sinbad at its table.

Ten bucks to anyone who doesn’t.

It’s safe to say that relations between the Clintons and the Sheryl Crows and the Sinbads were much warmer during the ’90s than they are today.

For example, here’s Bill Clinton in January 1999:

“I want to say a special word of thanks, as Hillary did, to Sheryl Crow, who is a good friend, a good Democrat, and an unbelievable artist. And she’s getting better every single year — unbelievable.”

Unbelievable — delicious word choice.

And here’s Bill Clinton in January 1995:

“When I came before I had Sinbad with me as the warmup act. And I thought that was responsible for the crowd.”

See — Sinbad is funny.  But a far more poignant memory of the ’90s may be Hillary Clinton’s wardrobe.

An alert Extreme Mortman reader watched the YouTube video of CBS’ report on Hillary’s 1996 Bosnia visit …

… and had a eureka moment.  Our correspondent noted specifically what Hillary was wearing 12 years ago, betting the farm that, based on the video evidence, Hillary was wearing a shirt from The Black Dog in Martha’s Vineyard.

Hmmmm, The Black Dog, The Black Dog — sounds familiar.  Where have we heard that before?

Ah, yes.  From President Clinton’s answers to questions posed by the House Judiciary Committee about the Monica Lewinsky scandal:

In my deposition in the Jones case, I testified that I “certainly … could have” given Ms. Lewinsky a hat pin and that I gave her “something” from the Black Dog. Dep. at 75-76. In my grand jury testimony, I indicated that in late December 1997, I gave Ms. Lewinsky a Canadian marble bear’s head carving, a Rockettes blanket, some kind of pin, and a bag (perhaps from the Black Dog) to hold these objects.

Or, as a Washington Post timeline has it:

Early September [1997]: Currie passes on to Lewinsky several items from the Black Dog restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard as gifts from the president.

Dec. 28 [1997]: Lewinsky meets with Clinton in Oval Office. In adjoining study, Clinton gives her several Christmas presents, including a stuffed animal from the Black Dog, chocolates and a pair of joke sunglasses. They kiss.

Smoooooth.  Gifts from The Black Dog — gets ‘em every time.

Continuing with Hillary Clinton’s Tony Harding Option — how would John McCain look if he were cast as Olympic Gold Medalist and Figure Skating World Champion Oksana Baiul in the extended metaphor?

Talk about poetry on ice…

Welcome to our new regular feature  — Extreme Veepstakes.  We are asking great and famous Americans to make the case for potential running-mates, both parties.  We begin today with Quin Hillyer, an Associate Editor at the Washington Examiner and Senior Editor for the American Spectator.  Quin is a longtime conservative movement veteran who has written a four-part series about how John McCain should decide on his choice of a running mate. This is how Quin summarizes his conclusions:

For a running mate, John McCain needs a Reaganite (to excite the conservatives who actually do the work in presidential campaigns) and somebody who could be ready, at a moment’s notice, to become president in an emergency. He also wants somebody to make a couple of states more competitive. In short, he needs Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, 16-year veteran of Congress from California, first chairman of the original Homeland Security Committee, chairman of the committee that exposed Chinese espionage, author of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, and former high-ranking legal aide in the Reagan White House.

Cox is brilliant, telegenic, extremely articulate, and deeply knowledgeable about so many issues that National Review’s Jay Nordlinger once called him “omnicompetent.” He can help McCain in California, thusly: McCain already does better in that state than most Republicans; he will do better among the already-GOP-leaning military there than most do; he will do better among Hispanics than most GOPers because of his position on immigration (yuck); and he has Gov. Terminator to help him with the moderates and independents; but what he lacks is somebody who can motivate California conservatives. Cox does that, and also helps in Silicon Valley, because he is a hero to the tech community. Finally, Cox helps in Minnesota, at least to some extent, because he grew up there and (I am told) he is still considered a hometown boy made good. What better way to make the GOP National Convention in Minnesota a smashing success with Minnesota (swing-state) voters than to crown a hometown boy as Veep?!? (For more, read here and here.)