Did anyone hear the warped rationale Hillary Clinton gave this morning on why Michigan's primary should count? I heard this on NPR this morning and almost had to pull off the road her thinking on Michigan was so absurd.
The quote is below the fold.
In reference to the fairness of Clinton's proposal to count the votes from Michigan when she was the only name on the ballot:
"Well that was his choice, remember. There was no rule or requirement that he take his name off the ballot, and his supporters ran a very aggressive campaign to try to get people to vote uncommitted. So it wasn't that he didn't participate at all. In fact there was a real effort to get people to vote uncommitted and I still won 55% of the vote."
You say that was a fair result even without Barack Obama's name on the ballot?
"Well that was his choice, Steve"
Wasn't it the Democratic Party's choice that it would not be a result that be counted and most people took their names off the ballot?
"No...I think that the Democratic party said that they would not under the circumstances count the votes. But we all had a choice as to whether or not to participate in what was going to be a primary. And most people took their names off the ballot, but I didn't. And I think that was a wise decision because Michigan is key to our electoral victory in the fall. And I think if there is to be any difference between my proposal that we count those votes and any other course of action, it should be a complete redo of the primary. Nothing else is fair and I feel strongly about that."
Um, okay. First of all, if she can't get more of 55% of the primary voters running against "uncommitted" she should probably rethink her viability in Michigan. Kos had a post yesterday with polls showing Obama with a +1 advantage over McCain and Clinton running neck and neck.
So as far as I can tell, her crazy logic is that because Obama upheld the spirit of the national party's approach towards Michigan and did what was good for the party, and because she decided to exploit that as an advantage to her bid (which she really needs, I understand) that this somehow constitutes a "wise decision," because of Michigan's role in the fall. That her abandonment of the party for her own gain constitutes good judgment. How does she not see how this comes across? It boggles me.
Hillary Clinton, I think a painful lesson is coming to you. It goes a little something like this, "United we stand, divided we fall."
With the fall you've got coming, you'd better bring your pain killers along.