Action alert for Hillary in primary states.
Fri Dec 14, 2007 at 03:47:12 PM PDT
As you know I'm a big fan of Eriposte's work on The Left Coaster.
Long before this campaign started, I was reading his exhaustive analyses of the aluminum tubes story, the Niger forgeries, the SBVT in 2004.
He is a fantastic and meticulous researcher.
Much to the chagrin of non-Hillary supporters, he has just recently endorsed Hillary Clinton, in a VERY long post
GoHillary
This post was too long for the blog, actually, and the full article may be seen at http://www.theleftcoaster.com/...
In this diary, I will give some excerpts from Eriposte's endorsement, as well as suggest other articles to look at.
The "Action" in the alert is to send copies of these articles to media outlets in primary states.
The Left Coaster is not a top tier site, and while many bloggers refer to him these days, I wish he would get wider exposure.
It may be that papers would have to contact Eriposte before writing about him. I don't know. I do know that he is happy to have wider exposure, so I'm trying to help. This idea came from a commenter at TLC today.
When sending these articles, it is important to establish some credibility for the writer; one place you can see this is in his debunking of SBVT lies at
http://swiftvets.eriposte.com/ Take a look. It is EXHAUSTIVE and devastating.
Also, Eriposte did fantastic work on the Niger forgeries. You may find a synopsis
at http://www.theleftcoaster.com/...
. Use your judgment on whether you want to send something called "treasongate". Eriposte's language is harsh, but he's very solid in the details.
Other articles on this primary cycle can be found at
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/...
Yesterday's post on campaign mudslinging
Go HILLARY!
should open some eyes on the question of who is running an above-board campaign.
Without further ado, let me give you a few snippets from
"Election 2008: Who I am Supporting in the Democratic Primary"
First, the criteria:
In deciding whom I should support, I wrote down the top factors that would guide my decision (not necessarily in the order of priority) and my personal assessment of the top candidates on each of these factors. There are of course other important factors, but I kept my list to the following 9 factors which I believe are adequate to provide me the broad base of information I needed to pick the best candidate: Electability, Progressive Voting Record and Campaign Contributions, Ability to Build the Democratic Brand, Ability to Work Well with Independents and Republicans to Bring About Major Positive Changes, Progressive Vision Reflected in Policy Proposals, Policy Expertise and Smartness, Experience and Ability to Govern Effectively and Efficiently, Ability to Deal with the Broken Media Environment and some Special Factors.
Very good list, IMO.
Next, the endorsement:
Based on the data and discussion below, I believe, without any doubt, that the best Democratic candidate for President is Senator Hillary Clinton. I believe she is clearly the most electable of the three top candidates. She has a progressive voting record that is impressive overall and comparable to that of the other two candidates (despite some notable imperfections in everyone's voting record). Despite the election year rhetoric, her positions and vision on Iraq and Iran are largely similar to those of the other candidates. She understands the importance of building a strong progressive and Democratic brand and is one of few leading Democrats who took an early interest in seeding modern progressive infrastructure. She brings together a combination of partisan fervor and a demonstrated ability to work well with Independents and Republicans. Her record as a Senator from New York - where she continues to enjoy high approval ratings (60% now, including a 33% approval rating from Republicans, despite the unending attacks on her character especially of late) and where she was re-elected with 67% of the vote (capturing the vast majority of districts across the state including Republican districts) - is an illustration of the fact that voters who really get to know her well, tend to like her - in contrast to oft-repeated talkingpoints about her "polarizing" personality. Her progressive policy proposals as a Presidential candidate are generally speaking ambitious and impressive and in some cases better than Sen. Obama's proposals. She is without a doubt the most knowledgeable on public policy - something that is also reflected in her debate performances, stump speeches and Q&As. Of the three candidates, she has also shown the most interest in thinking about how she would translate her progressive vision to political successes in an environment where Republicans in Congress might seek to block progressive legislation. Her rich experience in the Clinton administration - both on domestic (women, children, healthcare, etc.) and foreign policy (especially international diplomacy) issues - combined with the access to the Clinton team that built one of the most effective and efficient Governments in modern American history will be a major plus for the country after 8 years of criminally negligent mismanagement under Bush and Cheney and allow her to hit the ground running as soon as she is inaugurated. The experience of the Clinton years has also made her better than anyone else in understanding how to deal with a broken media environment dominated by conservative voices and false talking points from Republicans. Overall, it is clear she will be a strong leader, who will use her rich experience to drive the kind of positive change we need in America.
For me, the point about her approval ratings among Republicans in New York---the people who actually know her---is worth highlighting in any discussion of her electabiliity.
Let me excerpt from the section on rebuilding the Democratic brand:
This is one of most extraordinarily important attributes that I believe a Democratic candidate needs to be measured on - an extremely strong commitment to the Democratic brand and a commitment to communicate and act in ways that will build a positive image of the Democratic party. On this metric, Sen. Obama gets pretty poor grades in my book:
... (b) Sen. Obama has shown a very strong tendency to repeatedly use false right-wing frames to negatively describe the left or Democrats in sweeping fashion on a number of issues. He has also exhibited a significant comfort level with the use of false right-wing frames to discuss policy or criticize other progressives or Democrats, even while he misleadingly criticizes Sen. Clinton for allegedly enabling Bush and the right with her vote on Kyl-Lieberman. Yet, when criticized for his repeated use of false right-wing frames, he has responded by saying that "the notion that somehow because George Bush was trying to drum up fear in order to execute [his] agenda means that Democrats shouldn't talk about it at all I think is a mistake" and also sometimes by launching misleading attacks against his progressive critics. [Taylor Marsh has a post on what she calls "The Progressive Cannibalism of Barack Obama"]
(c) The voting records of both Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton are very similar and much more progressive than Sen. Lieberman's. However, contrary to the false, yet common knee-jerk linkage of Sen. Clinton with Sen. Lieberman, Sen. Obama's rhetorical history has a lot more in common with his mentor Sen. Lieberman, whom he went out of the way to support prior to Ned Lamont's win in the Democratic primary - by giving a speech praising his character, intellect and qualifications, despite the fact that Sen. Lieberman was perhaps the worst triangulator against Democrats/progressives and Bush's #1 enabler on Iraq and national security in the Democratic party at the time. Post-primary, Sen. Obama supported Lamont via a letter to supporters and a donation. In contrast, Sen. Clinton offered what was tepid support for Lieberman before the primary, stating up front that she will support the eventual winner of the primary, and then went out of her way after the primary to meet with Lamont, donate funds, offer to do a fundraiser and offered one of her top campaign strategists (Howard Wolfson) as an advisor to Lamont's campaign.
In way too many of these instances, it is clear that if Sen. Clinton had acted in the same way as Sen. Obama, she would have been trashed relentlessly as a Desperate Calculating TriangulatorTM and torn to shreds by her critics (oh wait...). Sen. Obama, on the other hand, generally continues to enjoy The Progressive SaintTM status. This Clinton Double Standard is as interesting as it is appalling.
As I said in a follow-on post:
* What is fascinating about Sen. Obama is that in his Sister Souljah approach [against the progressive left], he has exploited an environment conducive to Democrats, that was created largely because of the aggressiveness of the progressive left and the progressive blogosphere over the past several years - an aggressiveness especially against the in-the-tank traditional media that he has specifically courted. If the progressive blogs and netroots did not exist and had not been as aggressive as they were in challenging the conventional wisdom spewed by Republicans and their propagandists in the media, it would have been virtually impossible for Sen. Obama to say that he would meet unconditionally with the leaders of Iran, North Korea and so on upon assuming office and think that he has even a 1% chance of winning the general election. In fact, it would have been much more difficult for him (and the other candidates) to veer left on other matters too. As it turns out, the real Sen. Obama is actually to the right of Sen. Clinton and Sen. Edwards in some areas - at least in his rhetoric - and he hopes this will win him points in the media and with Independent/Republican voters and balance his left-leaning rhetoric on the war (which is the most important issue in the minds of many Democrats voting in the primary).
I have seen enough of Sen. Obama's supposed "post-partisan" non-ideology in action to know that, while he will certainly be better than any Republican as President, he is definitely not my #1 choice in the Democratic primary. I have deep concerns about what an Obama administration would be like - one that will likely be interested in compromise as an end in itself, while repeatedly ditching the progressive netroots as he has been inclined to do already (even before winning), when his soaring rhetoric meets the reality of the not-so-soaring ideology of Congress and the Republican Noise Machine. It is probably the expectation of this dynamic, along with Sen. Obama's willingness to repeatedly throw progressives under the bus, that has Obama supporters like Andrew Sullivan - who once infamously tarred swaths of the left in this country as a fifth column - energized and welcoming of his candidacy.
I agree with the importance of rebuilding the Democratic brand.
I see Edwards as very focused on that. Eriposte has mixed words on Edwards:
n some respects, Senator Edwards, who is an extremely passionate and inspiring speaker, is the strongest in his commitment to strengthen the Democratic brand. However, he goes too far in criticizing other Democrats using misleading metrics that say little about whether a Democrat is progressive or not and would have the effect of excluding many very progressive Democrats from political office. Sen. Clinton, on the other hand makes it clear that she is a strong Democrat who will fight for Democratic values against Republican attacks but has been known to take some unpopular positions that are different from what the activist base wants to hear.
By the way, Edwards is his second choice, so if Hillary gets knocked out, Edwards supporters will have a very articulate advocate on their side.
If events turn out that Obama is the nominee, I guarantee that Eriposte will put just as much energy into debunking Republican lies about Obama as he has always put into his effort to separate the truth from the lies of the GOP.
So, if you like my idea, you know what to do!
GO HILLARY!
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