If there were ever a reason why the false meme of Hillary Clinton being mistreated by the Democratic Party is misleading and harmful, and needs to be eradicated, this example is it:
Clinton delegate to for McCain
Wisconsin pledged delegate Debra Bartoshevich says she will not support the Democratic Party's nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois), and instead, will cast her vote for Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) this fall:
"I'm sure people are going to be upset with me. I don't want to lose my national delegate status," says Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old emergency room nurse who is a convention delegate, pledged to Clinton, from Waterford in Racine County.
Yes, Ms Bartoshevich people are going to be upset.
Take, for example, Joe Wineke, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin:
"We have a Clinton national (convention) delegate who says she's voting for John McCain?" Wineke repeated, for clarification. "I've never heard of such a thing."
[Wineke said]"Almost everybody I know who was for Hillary" is solidly behind Obama now. As for Bartoshevich, he said, "my suspicion is she doesn't know what she's getting into" because "the delegates to this convention will be very upset."
Ms. Bartoshevich claims that:
"No self-respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her - that's by Susan B. Anthony," said Bartoshevich, referring to the famous suffragist.
That's certainly true. No "self-respecting" woman would.
But then again, no "self-respecting" woman would be blind to the fact that as former First Lady, Hillary Clinton had the full backing of the Party's apparatus. And in conceding the primary to her fellow Democrat,
Hillary Clinton spoke thusly:
The way to continue our fight now - to accomplish the goals for which we stand - is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States.
Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him, and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.
Now when I started this race, I intended to win back the White House, and make sure we have a president who puts our country back on the path to peace, prosperity, and progress. And that's exactly what we're going to do by ensuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009.
I understand that we all know this has been a tough fight. The Democratic Party is a family, and it's now time to restore the ties that bind us together and to come together around the ideals we share, the values we cherish, and the country we love.
Voting for McCain does absolutely nothing to advance issues that are dear to Hillary Clinton, or to the women of this nation, like reproductive rights, health care, and equity in the workplace.
Why, again, Ms. Bartoshevitch, would you vote for John McCain?
Because your whiteness is showing.
UPDATE:
Wis. Democrats move to dump delegate over McCain support
STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The Wisconsin Democratic Party moved Friday to strip a woman of her position as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention after she told a newspaper she would vote for Republican Sen. John McCain for president in November.
Bartoshevich, of Waterford, supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign and was elected a Clinton delegate from the 1st Congressional District. She was certified as a national delegate by the party last month.
But Bartoshevich told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, as reported on its Web site Friday, that Clinton was treated unfairly by the party and she has deep reservations about Obama's experience, so she'll vote for McCain.
Those comments prompted Democrats to support a complaint asking the national party's credentials committee to refuse to seat her at the convention. The resolution said Bartoshevich violated a Democratic National Committee rule requiring delegates to support the party's nominee and not any other candidate.
If the move is approved, Democratic aides said she would be replaced by an alternate that had already been elected.