Tuesday, May 27, 2008

An exit with dignity and class

Or not:
ABC News' Kate Snow Reports: In an interview with the Argus Leader, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., took the unusual step of invoking the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-N.Y., when discussing the continuing Democratic nomination battle.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it." Clinton said.
Wow. When my mom called me and told me what she said, I actually didn't believe believe her. There are few people who loathe Hillary Clinton as much as I do, and I gotta say, after all the race baiting, smearing, and bullshit to come from her campaign, I still didn't think she'd sink this low. From now on, I'll remember that there really is no remark too classless, and no limit to how low she will go. Lesson learned.

Enough of the offensive, how bout' some good old fashioned lies? (via devilstower)
ABC News' Sarah Amos reports: Former President Bill Clinton in South Dakota today delivered a harsh critique of how his wife has been treated during her presidential bid, telling the crowd that he has "never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running," and that, "she will win the general election if you nominate her. They're just trying to make sure you don't."
Clinton also spoke against bullying superdelegates to make up their minds, saying, "I cant believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out. 'Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not. Oh my goodness, we have to cover this up.'"
"She is winning the general election today and he is not, according to all the evidence," Clinton said. "And I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running. Her only position was, "Look, if I lose I'll be a good team player. We will all try to win but let's let everybody vote and count every vote.'"
Well, in addition to that other stuff he said not being true... this whole disrespected thing is really getting on my nerves. That's true Bill, I can't think of a candidate who's had a worse ride in the media then someone who had a the press crowning them as the nominee and building up her non-existent credentials and accomplishments for 3 years. It's hard to think of someone with more institutional advantages ON her side... so to portray her as some kind of underdog story is beyond ridiculous.

But to give you a taste of a current Hillary supporter's mindset, I came across this at Huffington Post, written by one of their columnists. Keep in mind, this may read like sarcasm, but I'm pretty sure she's serious:
How Dare You! By Gill Iscol

We need to talk. How dare the leadership of the Democratic Party turn on Hillary Clinton! How dare they betray Bill Clinton! How dare they not speak out when Hillary is disrespected by words like bitch, whore and the "c" word! How dare they allow them both to be smeared as racists, playing the race card! Where was Howard Dean ? Where was Nancy Pelosi ? Where were Hillary's colleagues in the Senate when the Clintons were being so unfairly accused and denigrated? The Democratic Party has a lot to answer for. If we had stood as a party with one voice and said, "no", we will not allow one of our own to be so disturbingly maligned, we would now have a unified democratic party electorate at the end of a virtually tied primary race. Instead we are deeply divided. Now, since the party's leaders have chosen again and again not to speak up, I will.

I am a Hillary supporter and along with millions of Democrats throughout our country , I have been outraged by how the media have treated her throughout this primary season. But what is most disturbing is how my Party has stood by and allowed the demeaning and dishonest attacks on Hillary to continue. This is not the party I thought I belonged to. This is not the party that espouses fairness, justice and equality for all. This is not the party that elected Bill Clinton President in 1992 and 1996 and Hillary Clinton as Senator in 2000 and 2006. That party knew that it had benefited enormously from the Clinton administration as well as the incredible accomplishments of one of the most activist, hardworking First Ladies in our history. That Party stood proudly by a president who many called the first black president because both he and his wife had demonstrated a lifelong commitment to civil rights and human rights.

Imagine if Democratic leaders had done what Hillary did when President Bush associated Barack Obama with terrorism in his much lauded speech in Israel. Remember, Hillary gave a heartfelt statement that Barack was one of our own and she would not stand by and allow him to be so denigrated ?

Women are outraged. We are still fighting for her, and we are ashamed of how our candidate, a woman who has devoted her adult life to serving others, a woman who has been a distinguished First Lady, a woman who has helped her colleagues pass legislation and win races in their own states, a woman who has stood up for all of our rights, has been treated not just by the media but by her own Democratic Party. Throughout all this, Hillary has maintained her focus, her message and her dignity. This is truly courage under fire. This is what it takes to be a great president. It is not over until the lady in the pant suit says it is and I and millions of others are with her.

She certainly captured the Hillary Clinton/Brick Tamlin monotone yelling in writing, which is no small feat. I'm not gonna talk about all the bullshit that she claims in the piece, I just feel like it's good to point out the absurdity of the arguments being made by the remaining Clinton supporters, and I just wish there was a better way to keep track anyone who said something this stupid, so we don't have to take them seriously in the future. Oh yeah, and speaking of people who are looking to put themselves in that category, Paul Krugman's credibility continues to plummet further into the abyss with his latest national column. Seriously Paul, on a completely selfish note, you're making everyone who backed you up when you were wrongfully attacked by the Obama campaign look stupid for having ever defended you on anything. I blame myself though, I should have known better than to trust a free trader.

I really can't wait till this is over. I never thought I'd miss the days when Hillary Clinton was just a crappy senator who ranted about flag burning and pushed us into unnecessary wars.

5 comments:

  1. yeah i was pretty shocked and appalled by her RFK comment. i can't really say how infuriated i was. i don't want to sound like i'm viewing things through an Obama-only filter, but there is no benefit of the doubt on this statement for Clinton.

    if she wasn't thinking carefully enough about how that comment might be portrayed, then she is simply not smart enough to be a presidential candidate. she already used her "misspoke" card on the sniper fire bullshit. if she was careless enough to "misspeak" again, then it's her own fault. kick rocks, Hillary. deuces!

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey guys wasnt it awful what happened to bhutto? heh, sure would suck if a female politician were killed in this election, heh...




    OH COME ON HOW YOU COULD MISCONSTRUE THAT AS ME ADVOCATING THE ASSASSINATION OF HRC? STOP TAKING ME OUT OF CONTEXT

    ReplyDelete
  3. Am I totally missing out on people calling her names? What was that person talking about? I feel like, if anything, this race has been more civil than usual – remember Limbaugh's rants about her in the '90s and early '00s?

    Also, this whole "let's feel sorry for Hillary" thing smells more like sexism to me than the fact that she's losing the race.

    Thank god this will be over in the next couple of weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. She must be tired from the road or something if she said that... I mean it's just such a spiteful, and stupid thing to say. Not only did she insinuate that her campaign would benefit from Obama's assassination, but also how fucking hopeless is your campaign if the other candidate needs to be dead for you to win?

    Not to defend her, but I really thought she was too politically adept for ridiculous shit like this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Nick, exactly right about the comparison to the 90s. And furthermore, when there has been sexist behavior, it's been from outside forces and the media. When there's been racist stuff aimed towards Obama, it's come DIRECTLY from the Clinton campaign's surrogates. That is a HUGE difference.

    @Nik0, that's the part that really shocked me, is that this was so devastating politically I don't understand who thought this would be any kind of good idea. But then again, it's that kind of campaign management that takes you from sure thing front runner to begging for the vp slot in 3 months.

    Nick and Niko on the same post, impressive. Niko, how do you feel that you're name will now forever be remembered as the murderous main character from the new gta?

    ReplyDelete