Turning Up the Heat on Hillary
In South Dakota last weekend, Bill Clinton performed a lengthy monologue on the supposed injustices that his wife has suffered in her presidential campaign, bemoaning the “frantic effort to push her out” of the race.
"I can’t believe it,” the former president said. “It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out.”
He ain’t seen nothing yet.
The Clintons and their most ardent supporters are convinced that they have been victimized—by the press, by the process, by the Obama campaign. But the reality is that the most influential voices in the press and within the Democratic Party, to say nothing of Obama himself, have been fairly deferential.
The math has been stacked against Clinton for months now, but only after Indiana voted on May 6 did Tim Russert and Time magazine dare to label Obama the presumptive nominee. Since February, the Clintons’ reputation as a pair of political Houdinis has mostly bought them the benefit of the doubt when the subject of Hillary’s viability as a candidate was raised. Her chances of snagging the nomination were 10 percent at best (about 10 points higher than they now are), but the media continued to cover her with the intensity usually reserved for a front-runner. A lesser figure might simply have been ignored to death.
That deference has extended to the past few weeks. Behind the scenes, Obama’s campaign may be pushing superdelegates to choose sides, but the results have been mixed—a steady but not overwhelming trickle of endorsements—and publicly they’ve tried hard to give Clinton latitude to set her own timetable. Party leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, who could speed up the process by publicly embracing Obama and strong-arming members of Congress to do the same, have been mostly quiet. And the media has continued to give serious treatment to Clinton, her claims of a popular-vote lead, her push for Florida and Michigan, and her threats to carry her campaign to Denver. Next Page >
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 49.4
- 42.8
- Obama +6.6
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 56.4
- 36.3
- +20.1
- McCain
- 50.1
- 41.3
- +8.8
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HILLARY IS A DESTRUCTIVE FORCE WITHIN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. HER CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN ALL ABOUT HILLARY AND HER ENTITLEMENT.
THE FACT THAT SHE WILL NOT BE CORONATED QUEEN OF THE PARTY HAS MADE HER VERY ANGRY AND IRRATIONAL. HER TRUE NATURE OF BEING A JEALOUS, VINDICATIVE, DEPRAVED PERSON IS SHOWING IN ALL ITS GLORY.
HILLARY WILL DESTROY THE PARTY'S CHANCES IN NOVEMEBER --- UNLESS THE SUPREDELEGATES SHOW SOME 'TESTICULAR FORTITUDE' AND PUT AN END TO HILLARY'S 'CAMAPIGN OF DESTRUCTIVENESS.'
ALL THEY NEED DO IS LOUDLY "SAY NO" TO HILLARY. (period).
____________________________________________________________
The Democrats have once again shown their talent for nominating a weak candidate who in ordinary circumstances would be demolished by the Republican candidate despite his incredible weaknesses. Hillary or Obama. The Wicked Witch of the East vs the relatively unknown but highly charismatic foe vs McCain.
Whoever wins, I'm afraid we've all lost another 4 years.
..........
Pelosi vows to prevent fight at Dem conventio
Thursday, May 29, 2008
(05-28) 20:17 PDT San Francisco -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will step in if necessary to make sure the presidential nomination fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama does not reach the Democratic National Convention - though she believes it could be resolved as early as next week.
Pelosi predicted Wednesday that a presidential nominee will emerge in the week after the final Democratic primaries on June 3, but she said "I will step in" if there is no resolution by late June regarding the seating of delegates from Florida and Michigan, the two states that defied party rules by holding early primaries.
"Because we cannot take this fight to the convention," she said. "It must be over before then.
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Congrats democrats!!
Now you can add Obama to the list of failed presidencies with Clinton and Carter.
The question is, Who will take the top spot??
"But after South Dakota and Montana—both of which she figures to lose, and handily..."
Why? In any case, Obama will lose it handily in the general.
"If Clinton were to take it to the convention and jeopardize the party’s chances in the fall, an irate Democratic base would never forget or forgive it," you opine.
On the other hand, Clinton's supporters, more than 50% of of those who have voted so far, are infuriated over the treatment of Clinton during this primary debacle, and the treatment of all those good Democrats who have been the base of the party and are now being told they are irrelevant.
So don't be so sure your prediction is correct. Rather focus on the reality that there are many who are not only ready for a fight, but want one.
Clinton, by the way, has absolutely nothing to lose by taking her fight to the convention. Her Party abandoned her long ago, and have no intention of giving her another shot once they secure their left-wing control.
The Party's/Obama's mistake was in giving Clinton the "nothing to lose" option. But Obama and his followers are becoming notorious for overplaying their hand.
Halli Casser-Jayne
http://www.thecjpoliticalreport.com
"If Clinton were to take it to the convention and jeopardize the party’s chances in the fall, an irate Democratic base would never forget or forgive it," you opine.
On the other hand, Clinton's supporters, more than 50% of of those who have voted so far, are infuriated over the treatment of Clinton during this primary debacle, and the treatment of all those good Democrats who have been the base of the party and are now being told they are irrelevant.
So don't be so sure your prediction is correct. Rather focus on the reality that there are many who are not only ready for a fight, but want one.
Clinton, by the way, has absolutely nothing to lose by taking her fight to the convention. Her Party abandoned her long ago, and have no intention of giving her another shot once they secure their left-wing control.
The Party's/Obama's mistake was in giving Clinton the "nothing to lose" option. But Obama and his followers are becoming notorious for overplaying their hand.
Halli Casser-Jayne
http://www.thecjpoliticalreport.com
Why, Pinky? Well, because most likely the voters there are going to end up voting for Obama? But then again we shouldn't care about states that don't vote for Hillary, right?
Halli... grow up, she lost fair and square.
Much has been made over the last several months about how the Democratic party can possibly nominate Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. She was the frontrunner, the inevitable candidate, the pre-ordained leader of the Democratic resurgence for the year 2008 and onward. But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Senator Clinton, and the rest of the voters in the U.S., discovered there were others who wanted the Democratic presidential nomination just as much as she did, if not more. What! Are you kidding me? Senator Clinton was going to have to compete for delegates, to actually campaign in states leading up to and after February 5th? What kind of nonsense was this? Senator Clinton would actually have to work for the Democratic nomination? Surely, you jest. Well, Senator Clinton welcome to the world of men . . . and women . . . and political power . . . now, an even playing field, where here you and your feminist forebears have labored endlessly for your right to compete. And you blew it. Here's a thought: perhaps Hillary Clinton has, for all intents and purposes, lost the Democratic nomination because (at least under the current DNC rules) . . . she got beat.
Endless articles have been written about what went wrong with the Hillary Clinton campaign. Numerous reasons have been given for how such a vaunted politician and equally-vaunted campaign could go so far off-track, including: her reliance on “inevitability”; her failure to plan and lay a ground game for caucuses and primaries in smaller states, particularly after Super Tuesday; her dependence on the old system of political fund-raising; her acceptance of donations from lobbyists; her inability to recognize and avoid that which makes her “untrustworthy”; her reliance on President Clinton; her open and entrenched distrust of the press; her inability to acknowledge her mistake in voting for the Iraq war; her inability to recognize the mood of a country yearning for an entirely new direction; her reliance on campaign advisers valued more for their loyalty than for their vision or their attention to details; her inability to master the complicated rules required for acquiring as many pledged delegates as possible. In sum, Senator Clinton has wholly mismanaged her campaign for the Democratic nomination. And despite arguments to the contrary, athletic contests are deemed over well prior to the final buzzer by both the victor and the vanquished. One can often see both professional and college athletes vacating football fields and basketball courts prior to the final buzzer when the winning score is too far out of reach. But you don't see those losing the basketball game then approaching the referees asking for all those 1-point free throws to now count as 3-pointers. By comparison alone, Senator Clinton's mismanagement should make clear to everyone, whether black, white, male, female, gay, straight, Catholic, Protestant, liberal, conservative or centrist, or “other”, the Democratic nomination must go to the candidate who has been the most-prepared, the hardest-working, ready, willing and able to compete from buzzer to buzzer. The nominee should then be the person with an uncanny ability to gather around him those who are not only loyal, but sticklers for details, with the knowledge and skills required to get the job done.
Ultimately, it would appear Senator Clinton has fallen victim, not to misogyny and the misery of her gender as she and her supporters would like to suggest and have us believe, but to the arrogance of power, which as it happens . . . dare I say it? . . . befalls both men and women. Even more unexpected, however, is the sentiment from some women that they would vote for John McCain over Barack Obama, even though Clinton's policies better mirror Obama's policies than McCain's. It appears these women simply want a woman, any woman, in the White House, and perhaps did not, and will not, exercise their right to vote based on their own independent judgment . . . the right to an intelligent vote for which their feminist forebears labored endlessly.
tfseem
I don't think that Democratic party leaders abandoned H. Clinton long ago, as evidence by how many party leaders and superdelegates have thus far indulged her efforts to continue pursuing the presidentail nomination, depsite the long mathematical odds against her.
Perhaps Clinton is actually not much concerned about her political future (other than becoming president, of course). She will retain her senatorship from New York, after all, and one assumes would maintain a core of loyal supports to make another run for president in the future.
Its not about the democratic party anymore.... its clear as a bell now... its all aboout hillary or no democrat winning at all....
I did not care which one won but she has really screwed up the deomocratic chances with all the attacks on her rival.....
just an observation
but i really dont think shes gonna quit in june either ... and then it will be obvious to all that this is not about the democrats winning at all its about 1 person who wants to win no matter what damage is done to the democratic party
Hillary said that Florida and Michigan don't matter. She said this at a radio show in NH in October, 2007. The caller questioned whether she was sincere in her pledge not to participate in the MI or FL elections.
Hillary LIED to the people.
Hillary is a LIAR.
NEVER TRUST A CLINTON!!
Don't be afraid. Your conclusions are wrong, so you have nothing to fear!
Hillary's campaign has been all about the people that support her; yes, us poor, uninformed day care providers, school bus drivers, waitresses, secretaries, truck drivers, etc...you know, the people that keep your lives running.
And oh yes, we are well aware of how deferential everyone has been. I was particularly impressed with BO with he flipped her off in 3 of his rallies following one of his victories.
I've been so impressed with this entire process that I have been motivated to change my voter registration (former democrat) and am even considering the unthinkable - voting republican.
BO has nothing to offer but a thin resume, shady associations, and a voting record that is even a bit too liberal for me.
Come November, there will be dancing in the streets...and there won't be a BO supporter anywhere in sight. I imagine they will be drowing there sorrows with something sophisticated like a dirty cosmo or micro brew.
To Steve Kornacki:
Ms. Casser-Jane has an excellent point. The "irate Democratic base" who will never forget or forgive are in fact, Clinton supporters. The Obama campaign/supporters have unrepentantly alienated and denounced the traditional and core Democratic constituency and think they can win in November without this support. When the Democrats lose in November with Obama as the nominee, the party's core will not forget it. And the loss cannot be blamed on Hillary Clinton - it will be because of the political short-sightedness of the DNC and the superdelegates, who simply want to ride the Obama train to their next re-election and are willing to run a weak candidate for the presidency in order to do it.
Steve, thanks for laying out the first sane and succinct reality in weeks. Hillary's fear mongering and bullying is not playing well, certainly here in Texas, and if she remains no where near the Obama ticket to the White House, then republicans will be voting Obama in larger numbers than anyone dreamed. However, if the democrats play kissy face with Hillary and force Obama to share his ticket to make her "feel better", and her followers, then it will be back solidly to the McCain ticket. Independents and disenchanted republicans are watching closely what is done about Hillary. She is blackmailing the party that she and Bill have used solely for personal gain, and the Clinton stranglehold needs to be lifted, permanently discarded and buried.
The best summary of a failed campaign I have read
This is absolutely the most spot-on analysis of the situation I've ever seen ANYWHERE! tfseem should write for the Observer!
Well said!!!
This is one of the best blog posts I have read during this entire campaign. May I quote you? I'd like to re-post this on my Obama blog page (with your credit, of course). Thank you for summarizing this season so clearly and objectively.
Are you kidding me? Why on earth would the american people vote for a man (McCain) who is a war-monger who will continue the fight not only in Iraq and Afghanistan but also Bush's war on american soil? That's just ludicrous to even think about!
I'm a native Arizonan and let me tell you something. McCain has lost his 'bearings' alright.
His explosive temper is a sure guarantee he would be putting the american people in peril. I shiver to even think about it.
The political pundits are not lying when they say he IS George Bush reincarnated. There's a reason why all those people in his camp have quit/fired/muzzled or whatever. I implore you to think about giving him your vote very carefully. It could cost you your lives.
Look at how incredibly devisive this campaign is! The two positions of the candidates are darn near identical, so it's become a school ground shouting match between the Sharks and the Jets. All the fireworks about MSM fairness or preferences, race, age, Appalacia...and on and on. The whole sideshow highlights some of whats wrong with this protracted primary "system"--with the mix of open/closed primaries, caucuses and multi-tiered voting that would put most pyramid schemes to shame. At the end of the day though folks, the name of the game since the beginning is delegates. And imperfect or not, BO has the delegate count on his side. There's no room for "stolen" anything. People made their pick, those votes got distilled down by various mystical formulas into delegates and we count them up. The danger is that the two camps (more kerosene being poured on by blogs than the actual candidates) are going to be faced with a horrible moment of truth next week--when they find they need each other.
That "new' Puerto Rico poll showing Clinton only 13 points ahead, is actually a couple months old, and form a questionable source.
So get your facts right.
It is Hillary's fault that the voters are still voting for her? Are the count-every-vote-Democrats suddenly shy of letting people vote? So now Pelosi is going to dictate when the race is over? Hillary should go all the way to the convention and fight the Obamacan till the absolute last possible vote!!
I love Hillary's 'feminism' claim: Change the rules 'cause I'm a girl!
"Okay, first the Democrats punish two sovereign states of the Union for daring to decide when to hold their own elections within their own borders. Now the convention chairperson is going to "step in" to insure that a candidate is chosen before the convention meets to choose a candidate. Would someone please explain to me exactly what is so 'democratic" about the Democratic Party?"
Pretty much explains why I am switching to Independent and voting for McCain after 40 yrs of voting democratic...like a good troop. I am hispanic, over 50 yrs., educated (degree'd), a veteran, and have NEVER failed to vote.
I am so tired of the DNC telling me that Obama MUST be my choice! When rattlesnakes fly!
Excellent critique. And an even more excellent response from tfseem.
As a vet of the Civil Rights movement I found it particularly distasteful to hear Senator Clinton invoke slavery and poll taxes along with the bridge in Selma, as a rallying cry for her defense of Floridians "right to be counted". For her to use the imagery of Seneca Falls and the Union Army in the same breath with her self-serving flip flop on FL and MI was worse than bad taste, it was offensive to me and to everyone else who fought - black and white, Christian and Jew, to end the era of Jim Crow in America, and her shallow manipulation dishonors those who died in that struggle.
Posted in memory of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman. Murdered in Mississippi in 1964
Hello, flibbertijibbits.for.obama (I like you.) You're right that the Hillary Clinton supporters recognize foul play here. This is the embarrassing corruption involving Democratic party insiders since the Tammany Hall scandals. Hillary Clinton is a modern day Eleanor Roosevelt if she manages to run the rats off the ship.
Give me a break...What a stupid article. If it weren't for Hillary, these so called pundits would not have a job, including this moron author.
The donkey party including this author and the Obamanoids are just another bunch of losers.
LOSERS = MCGOVERN + DUKAKIS + GORE + KERRY + EDWARDS = OBAMA.
A clinton was the only one that won the whitehouse. 2008 is actually Kerry 2004 redux.
Face it you donkey Dems. You do not know how to win. Your talent is whining, latte drinking, talking too much and being elitist. Stick to that and let us Republicans run this country.
Bottomline, this year was a sure win for you guys, you will as usual screw it up and give us the whitehouse again by nominating another whiner, far left socialist communist.
Hillary should leave your party of communists.
GO MCCAIN AND REPUBLICANS.
It's an absolute disgrace that this horrible family, the Clinton's, have so little shame that they would pressume to run again for president. The horrific disgrace that Bill Clinton brought to the White House will be permanently etched in history books. Clinton's real leagcy is that a BJ is not sex and it's ok for kids to do it.
These slimy, lying, corrupt criminals must be destroyed politically. They are a cancer on our great nation. It's no wonder Hillary's main support comes from the undereducated and racists.
It's an absolute disgrace that this horrible family, the Clinton's, have so little shame that they would pressume to run again for president. The horrific disgrace that Bill Clinton brought to the White House will be permanently etched in history books. Clinton's real leagcy is that a BJ is not sex and it's ok for kids to do it.
These slimy, lying, corrupt criminals must be destroyed politically. They are a cancer on our great nation. It's no wonder Hil;lary's main support comes from the undereducated and racists.