Maybe it's just me. But it seems like the whuppin' Hillary gave Obama last night has emboldened some of her supporters into braving the Great Orange Satan again.
If so, I think a 10 to 12 delegate loss was a price worth paying. [Let's keep things in perspective. We'll have made that up in new superdelegate endorsements by end-of-business Friday.] However disgruntled each side might be at the moment, we are going to need to come together sooner or later. Sooner is better.
As my own contribution, I've removed my signature - which criticized a racial tack in Hillary's campaign that, to her credit, she seems to have wised up about and gotten rid of.
I've felt all along that her completing the course - to work off her debt, to thank her supporters, or just to promote her policies - was perfectly fine as long she stopped trashing the presumptive nominee of her party. Which - for the time being at least - she now seems to have done.
So you go, girl. Register as many voters in Kentucky as you can. After you win Puerto Rico, take a few days off and relax on the beach.
Then be true to your word and use that indomitable energy of yours to get Barack Obama elected the next President of the United States.
Today seems to be Shame People Out Of Their Counterproductive Hillary-Bashing By Insulting Them Day.
For example:
Evil. A woman also. How dare anyone even think of competing with Barack Obama? Burn the witch.
I got that a few months ago on Daily Kos. It's never changed. Boring and not useful, except for little minds.
Now how does that childish bs help elect Obama agaisnt mcCain, since he needs the entire Democratic Party coalition.
But I know. It's more fun to trash Hillary Clinton than it is to defeat McCain and elect Obama.
Worthy end. Lousy means.
Just as some Hillary supporters need time to adjust to reality, some Hillary haters need time to work accumulated grievances out of their system. [I think I'm almost finished.] It's not an occasion for cheap displays of moral superiority.
Next time try something like...
Fortunately, we don't have to waste our energy fighting Hillary any more. Now we can focus on that lying warmonger McCain.
A group called "Women's Voices. Women Vote" sent out more than 16,000 mailers to unmarried women in the state after April 22, the last day to register in time to vote Tuesday. ...
Page Gardner, president of the women's organization, said in a letter that:
"West Virginia residents will receive this mail after the deadline for registering to vote to participate in the upcoming primary election. Please be aware that the mailing is not intended to encourage registration specifically for the primary, but simply to encourage voter registration in general.
The mailing clearly indicates that the deadline to register to vote by mail for a particular election in West Virginia is 20 days before the election ... We hope that this unfortunate coincidence in timing does not lead to any confusion or aggravation for either your state's voters or registrars."
A diary by creweeny pointed me towards this sad item:
Speaking to a full firehouse in Madison [West Virginia], the former President told the crowd that those against her are trying to discourage people from caring about the election because they realize if enough people come out to vote, she could still win the popular vote. ...
While the crowd gave Clinton an extremely warm welcome, many in the crowd seemed to lose interest as he began his speech -- even during his appeal for a high voter turnout. ...
During the course of Clinton's hour long speech, many people wandered out...
Behold what Hillary Rodham Clinton's ambition has reduced her to.
The gifted Wellesley graduate who believed in a better future... calculatingly stroking the resentment of bigots. Standing on the back of a pickup truck in West Virginia, swindling votes from the gullible with a gas tax fraud.
It would be tragic if it weren't so disgusting. And so potentially harmful. [continued]
Yesterday morning, I went to the Internet in a Christmas spirit. I wrote a diary entry saying it wasn't too late for Hillary to redeem the campaign she's run. I expressed the hope that she could re-connect with the better side of her nature and return to using her great political gifts for someone's benefit other than her own.
The one Hillary person who commented said I was being a sore winner. Well, the grief is still fresh for them. I hope in time they'll come around.
I would have had no objection to Hillary finishing the primary season in a spirit of amicable irrelevance. She could give her supporters a few more victory parties, promote her policy ideas, and work off some of her campaign debt.
But now it's clear that she's determined to lose ugly. She and her surrogates continue to harp - ever less subtly - on "the white vote".
I don't know if she's playing hardball because she still thinks she can cow the superdelegates with race-based fear-mongering - or if she's just trying to extort the Vice Presidency. And I don't care.
Even now, after everything she's pulled, Hillary can still do some good for her party.
Take all day to think it over. Spend some quiet time with Bill and Chelsea. Find some inner place of acceptance.
Then call a press conference for tomorrow to announce you're ending [not "suspending"] your campaign and asking your superdelegates to vote for Obama at the convention.
Appear with him in the remaining states where you've been favored. Say that the calm and resolve he showed during the worst stretch of his campaign has convinced you that he's more than qualified to be our Commander-in-Chief. At the end of your speech, hold up his hand and introduce him as the next President of the United States.
Then go back to the Senate and use your abilities and determination to help the people of New York. Build a legacy you can be proud of.
Judging from the boards yesterday, people seem a bit anxious about this so-called "nuclear option" that Hillary's campaign confirms they're going to use.
Obama gets a win and a positive press cycle heading into the most crucial Tuesday of the remaining primaries. If by some fluke she wins Guam later--oh well.
People have been discussing whether Hillary "needs" to win North Carolina. If Hillary comes within 10 in North Carolina, it proves Obama has been weakened. Unpleasant to contemplate. But reality.
The catch is that Hillary doesn't just need to convince a supermajority of the uncommitted superdelegates that he's been weakened. She needs to convince them that she's more electable than he is.
Even if she were running for the Democratic nomination effectively unopposed, given the, uh, strong reactions people have to her, it requires the maximum application of the McSame negatives to picture her having even an underdog chance at a GE victory.
But it's far worse than that. If the superdelegates give the nomination to her, she'll be starting with what should be her own bedrock of support among registered Democrats riddled with fissures of resentment. [continued]
