Fri. May 23, 2008
Held Hostage by Hillary
I’ve stayed away from this topic as long as I can bear. Sort of like when some drunken fan runs onto the football field hoping to get on TV, the best thing you can do is put the cameras on the announcer’s booth and ignore the attempt to steal the spotlight.
But, I, and many others, see a political party being taken hostage. It bubbled up as a result of comments earlier this week:
Desperate to get attention for her cause to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and Florida voters saying it is wrong when “people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded.”
“We’re seeing that right now in Zimbabwe,” Clinton explained. “Tragically, an election was held, the president lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people,” Clinton told the crowd of senior citizens at a retirement community in south Florida.
In just one day, Clinton has used a variety of arguments to convince her party to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, going as far as comparing the struggles of the voters in Florida and Michigan to those of abolitionists, suffragists, to the plight of Zimbabweans. Clinton even warned that if a resolution is not reached, Democrats in these two states would feel abandoned and likely jump ship to Republican John McCain.
“I think people across Florida and Michigan are thinking to themselves, ‘Well if the Democrats don’t want my vote, maybe John McCain and the Republicans do?’ We can’t let that happen,” she told the small crowd.
Clinton Desperate to Count Votes, Compares Fla. Primary to Zimbabwe – From The Road
Un-freakin-believable. The DNC-forged plan for punishing Florida and Michigan that Hillary willingly signed onto last fall (see “Clinton, Obama and Edwards Join Pledge to Avoid Defiant States“) is now described as a disenfranchisement on a par with denying women, blacks, and Zimbabweans their right to vote? And then to suggest that Floridians might just as well vote Republican in the fall?
One hardly knows how to respond to such a mountain of manure.
Josh Marshall describes it as “Toxic,” Jonathan Chait says it’s “Shocking,” and Jonathan Alter calls it “Popular Vote Poison (“The shorthand many Clinton supporters are already taking into the summer is that she won the popular vote but had the nomination ‘taken away’ (as Joy Behar said on The View) by a man”).
It’s gotten to the point where the headlines scream, “What Does Hillary Want?”
The current scuttlebutt seems to be that she is leveraging her position to get an offer to be VP. Depending on who you want to believe, this is [1] being pushed mainly by Bill, [2] would be routinely turned down so that one of her allies could take the spot instead, but she feels like she is owed the public offer just the same, [3] would be publicly offered on the assumption and assurance she’d turned it down … and then she’d double-cross the Obama team and accept it, [4] the Clinton camp has already been told in no uncertain terms such an offer will not be forthcoming, and/or [5] Obama’s refusal “could mean open civil war within the party…”
It’s like trying to guess the inner workings of a hostage negotiation from several miles away. No one wants to talk about what’s really happening for fear of tipping the balance, but, essentially, it sounds like someone refuses to relinquish control of something that isn’t rightfully theirs, and they won’t come out until their demands are met. They say they may take everyone out with them, if it comes to that.
All that’s missing is the SWAT team and police tape line.
As for Hillary’s argument that she’s fighting to see that the delegations from Florida and Michigan are seated, the quickest way she can insure that will happen is to publicly drop out of the race. At that point, nearly instantly, the DNC will make arrangements to seat at least a portion of the delegations, as their votes will no longer be relevant to the outcome. As if they ever were.
I do indeed feel sorry for the citizens of Florida and Michigan, as they didn’t do anything to deserve this. Their state party leaders did. In poker terms, they were dealt an off-suit 9 and 6, and went all in. It was a stupid bluff that cost them their seat at the table. There simply has to be some accountability for that.
If I were Howard Dean, once the Hillary Hostage Crisis is over, I’d seat both delegations in full, split 50-50 between the candidates. And I’d tell the super delegates from both states I hoped they had a nice big screen TV to watch the convention. Because the super delegates largely are the Big Wig party leaders in each state who either participated in this madness or sat back and did nothing to stop it. They are the ones who should pay. The people of each state get some form of full representation, and the state party leaders get to go pound sand.
As for this seeming hostage crisis … I say you don’t negotiate with those who are working to overturn the process. If the situation were reversed, the Clintons would insist that the important choice of running mate could not be strong-armed. Hell, they’d be screaming every day, “Why Is He Still In The Race?”
It’s time to suspend this delusion. It’s time to state it plainly. Hillary has lost. Irrefutably, by the rules, fair and square. Hillary is being a Bad Loser, unlike the many candidates who dropped out prior to now on both sides.
Hillary is finishing showing us exactly why she is the wrong choice for this job.
And if it comes to threats of an intra-party civil war, Hillary will wage it as effectively as she waged the campaign to wrap up the nomination by Feb. 5.
She, too, should be told to go pound sand, and instead of Ted Kennedy in 1980 being the prime historic example, Hillary will be remembered as a the Ultimate Sore Loser. That will become the well-earned Clinton legacy.
Published 12:36PM, Fri, May 23 2008
Category: Politics
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Peanut Gallery
lol @ ‘loose cannon’ comment…YES!! You’ve hit it right on the nose!!
And if Obama suddenly has an ‘accident’ we know who to search…..
On the positive side, the mess has given us some amazing opportunities for humor:
www.youtube.com/watc… (Lot of cursing in the text subtitles, audio is safe. Too funny not to include.)
As for ‘what does Hillary want?’, that’s clear. Just spend a few moments thinking like a Clinton, and you’ll see it- it’s a Pyhrric victory solution that sets a stage for 2012. In typical any-party politician dogmatic thought, she can’t see it possible that her main opponent will win in the end, so she’s planning on what she’s going to do after McCain wins. She figures to paint herself as the only thing that will beat McCain in 2012, and use this mess as way to show how tough she is. Obama will be out, he’s already been beaten.
Clinton isn’t running for President in 2008 right now. She’s running for President in 2012. Squint just slightly, and you’ll see it very clearly.
Oops, put the NSFW warning on the wrong one, should be the second one.
In any case, should have read the comments first, and I’d have seen the comment about her Kennedy gaffe. While I do think it was a somewhat odd statement, I don’t see the big hoopla about it. I’m very much not a Clinton supporter, but it was pretty clear she wasn’t saying Obama would be shot, she was using a very memorable historic event to make a point about the primary season lasting through June, as the assassination happened during the primary season. Her biggest mistake was expecting the press corps to rub together their six brain cells and figure that out on their own.
This is just another example in the race of how the press explodes some tiny nothing into a huge national issue- every comment, every lapel pin (or lack thereof), every hand gesture is micro-scrutinized, and if at all possible, converted into a slur against small towns, military folks, dead politicians, or someone’s cat (well, not yet, but it’s coming I’m sure).
Fluff, all of it. When are we going to get into the real meat and potatoes, where they ask her where that law file was that was finally found ‘lost’ on a chair in the White House? That’s the tip of the iceberg among the real dirt under the Clinton rug.
“she was using a very memorable historic event to make a point about the primary season lasting through June”
Maybe. But here’s the deal; in 1992, the primary race was still as “on” as it is today in June, i.e., Bill Clinton had all the math and the momentum and had it all but wrapped up against Jerry Brown (?!?), the 2nd place contender then. And in 1968, let’s remember that RFK was shot at a victory party after the California primary … which was in June back then.
This year, when was it? Months ago. This year, when are the last two tiny state primaries held? June 3. Barely into June.
Times are much different, and as a seasoned politician, she should have known she was setting a cannon loose on her own deck.
Given her recent past, she gets the benefit of the doubt that she has earned with her own words and actions in this campaign: ZERO.
“it’s a Pyhrric victory solution that sets a stage for 2012”
Sure. The Democrats are going to return to the person who intentionally sank the election in 2008, when the stars were all aligned to be The Year Republican Reign Ends.
In 2012, the Democrats are going to return to the person who in 2008 had every pre-race advantage (ex-President husband, $150 million raised, all Dem leaders lined up for her, etc.) short of voter mind control … and completely blew it?!?
Democrats may be stupid at times, but they’re not idiots. Why would you give the keys to your new car to the person who totalled your old one the previous day?
Asked another way, why was there ZERO demand for Gore in 2004, and ZERO demand for Kerry in 2008?
And they didn’t trash the party with scorched earth tactics.
No, this is Hillary’s legacy. When she finishes this race, if it’s a scorched earth ending, her political career will be over. She can go back to the Senate for a few years and be shunned by the Dem leaders who once supported her.
But she will never have any import on the national scene. Not after this performance (or lack thereof).
Unreal. Cutting off your nose to spite your face: “Miss Ferraro, the losing Democratic candidate for vice-president in 1984, said that she might abandon her lifelong party loyalties and vote for the Republican John McCain if Mr Obama is confirmed as the nominee [...] in retaliation for [Clinton’s] allegedly sexist treatment by the media and fellow Democrats.”
So, a lifelong feminist who cracked barriers and fought for women’s rights … is going to vote for the Pro-Life Anti-Choice candidate. Decades old principles that were won by hard fights are completely overruled by hurt feelings on highly subjective matters and actions by … the media and fellow Democrats?
Here’s what feels like an equivalent action for me, following the above logic: My wife and I have been together for over a dozen years, have been through several levels of hell together, but she was very recently mistreated by her employer, so therefore I’m going to go have an adulterous affair.
These are not the kind of “allies” the Obama campaign needs.
Decades old principles that were won by hard fights are completely overruled by hurt feelings on highly subjective matters and actions by … the media and fellow Democrats?
Well, it’s hardly surprising. She’s only a woman…
n 2012, the Democrats are going to return to the person who in 2008 had every pre-race advantage (ex-President husband, $150 million raised, all Dem leaders lined up for her, etc.) short of voter mind control … and completely blew it?!?
Sure they are. Democrats in droves are still turning out to vote for her, while knowing full well that she’s destroying the party. She’s shown clearly that she’s got the idiot vote tied up, it’s nearly a rallying cry for her these days that she is the champion of the ‘common man’, which is the non de plume they’re giving to folks who never graduated high school. Don’t underestimate how stupid the average American is- you and your friends are on the upper end of the curve, hard as that may be to believe sometimes.
The Clintons also believe that the Democratic party belongs to them- and that this year someone has stolen their party from them- the pesky people who want to stick by the rules, and those damned educated voters. To use your analogy of a car, they’re going to total this one, so they can buy a new one, and this time they’re damned well going to keep the keys to themselves. They’ve got plans, man- long term plans. What exactly do you think was the point of Chelsea campaigning the way she did? The word you’re looking for here is ‘grooming’.
Asked another way, why was there ZERO demand for Gore in 2004, and ZERO demand for Kerry in 2008?
There was zero demand because they’d been defeated once already by the Republicans. Rarely, if ever, do we return to a candidate who’s been defeated in the general election. The media dismisses them as ‘the previously defeated FillInTheBlank’.
You want to see how deep the denial of reality is? Look at Bill’s comments from yesterday, extolling how his wife is “winning the general election.” What? Huh? We had the general election, and I didn’t notice?? Guess I was busy watching Oprah. No, he’s claiming that primary wins should be counted as electoral votes now.. that if she beat Obama among Democrats in a state, then she’ll take that state in the general election. Gosh, that’s cool- we can save some effort here, and call it for McCain now, because he’s take WAAAAAY more states in his primary than any of his competition, and surely more than either Clinton or Obama has taken from theirs.
The arguments being made by the Clintons aren’t just silly any more- they’re nasty, conniving, and dishonest. They are burning the battlefield. We’ll see them again in four years.
“They’ve got plans, man- long term plans. What exactly do you think was the point of Chelsea campaigning”
Frankly, from what I’ve seen, Chelsea seems the sanest of the three of them.
And I have no doubt you are correct about their delusion of party ownership, the delusion of “burning the battlefield,” the delusion that Hillary is actually winning and it is being covered up by a media conspiracy.
I just don’t think their delusions are shared by the majority of the Democrastic party. Quite the opposite. I can’t tell you the number of Democrats who, during the course of this Clinton primary campaign, have in effect said to their Republican friends, “OK, now I see what you were saying.”
Examples?
Hilzoy “Right now, instead of floating demands in the press and comparing herself to abolitionists and suffragists, she could be telling her supporters that she lost fair and square; that while there was a lot of sexism in the campaign, there was racism as well, and that sexism does not explain why a candidate with literally every institutional advantage over her opponent lost the nomination. She could be reaching out to the voters who supported her in places where Obama has had trouble, and urging them to vote for him. She could, in a word, be doing the right thing: trying to earn that respect she seems to want. Instead, she’s throwing tantrums, making demands that she has no right to make, and threatening civil war. I can’t imagine a better demonstration of why she should not be President or Vice President.”
John Aravosis “I actually liked Hillary up until a few months ago. Other bloggers used to tell me that Joe and I were too nice to Hillary. People just assumed that we were endorsing her. Now I actually loathe her. She makes me yell at the TV like she’s George Bush, and no one other than George Bush makes me yell at the TV – until now. I actually can’t stand her or her husband any more. I defended her. I defended her husband. And now I’m actually wondering if the Republicans weren’t right about them. That’s how bad she has damaged her reputation. People who actually liked you, who actually helped you, who actually defended you, LOATHE you now.”
These are hardcore Democrats. I’ve seen a lot of them who feel pretty much like the above. And I believe their memories will last more than four years. To be sure, Hillary has at least another week to add to those memories.
Heck yeah! I’m with Aravosis! Allow me to share with you my verison of:
“Stages in the Evolution of Thought Toward Hillary Clinton”
1.GO Hillary!!!...(“hey who’s that black guy running against her?”)
2. Hmmm, Hillary. You’re scaring me a bit.
3. Did Hillary just say that?!
4. Maybe I’ll like her better if I meet her in person…
5. She’s walking on thin ice!
6. There went MY vote.
7. How COULD she??!
8. Just MAYBE she would make a good VICE President
9. Oh HEEELL no..
10. This B#@% has got to GO
Thank you for your time and attention : )
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Update!!! Hillary auditions for the VP slot by suggesting Obama might get shot in June like RFK.
Yes, Obama definitely needs this kind of loose cannon as a running mate (and let’s not forget ex-President Loose Cannon as well).