In light of this recent diary which suggests a strong possibility of Hillary Clinton simply refusing to concede, I think that we need to change the way we're responding to those who claim that Hillary Clinton should or could be the Democratic nominee. I've wasted countless hours trying to explain the numbers, the trends, the conventional wisdom, and the media spin surrounding this nomination to people who just won't hear reason.
It seems as if every time someone presents a fact to a Clinton surrogate, that person just responds with a hypothetical statement. Here are some common examples:
If you count some elections but not others, Senator Clinton is leading in "popular vote".
If "popular vote" (using the above formula) and not delegate vote were the method of determining the nominee, Senator Clinton would be winning the nomination process.
If Senator Clinton had as much money to spend on ads as Senator Obama, she would have won more contests.
If pollsters got to pick the President in May of the election year, Senator Clinton would be the more electable Democrat.
If there were no caucuses, Senator Clinton would have more delegates.
If only Democrats were allowed to vote in X state, Senator Clinton would have won the primary.
If there weren't so many African-Americans/college students/liberals/latte-sippers in X state, Senator Clinton would have won the primary.
How can someone who wants to talk facts and numbers have a legitimate discussion with someone who begins every idea with a conditional statement? If I say that Senator Obama has the most delegates and is nearly mathematically assured of the nomination, the response seems to be one of the above "if" statements.
So I'm done trying to reason with people who would rather protest in front of a Rules Committee meeting or bring up irrelevant arguments about phony "popular vote" numbers. And I'm done trying to convince myself that the Clinton campaign deserves a respectful opportunity to gracefully bow out of the race. So whenever I hear another one of these "if" statements from a Clinton supporters, I'll respond thus:
If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.
If Hillary Clinton didn't lose, she'd be the nominee.